14.5% of Oregonians delayed or avoided health care in 2024 due to growing cost
A pair of new Oregon Health Authority (OHA) reports find health care costs continue to grow faster than the state and national economies. Meanwhile, a new committee is launching to identify effective ways to make health care more affordable for Oregonians.
One report notes 14.5% of Oregonians delayed or avoided health care due to cost in 2024. This was even more common in Southwest Oregon, where about one in five people delayed care, and dental care was most likely to be deferred statewide.
The second report finds that total health care expenditures increased 5.2% per Oregonian between 2022 and 2023, exceeding the state’s 3.4% goal by the highest amount since OHA began collecting data for the Sustainable Health Care Cost Growth Target program in 2018.
