The Health Care Costs Survey includes information on:

• The problems Americans have paying for medical care and prescription drugs.
• The impact paying health care bills has on family budgets
• The barriers health care costs pose to obtaining medical care
• The special burden of medical bills for people with chronic health conditions moderate and lower incomes and those without insurance

The Health Care Costs Survey is based on a nationally representative sample of 1,531 adults ages 18 years and older, conducted between April 25 and June 9, 2005. The USA Today/Kaiser Family Foundation/Harvard School of Public Health Survey Project is a three-way partnership. USA Today, Kaiser and HSPH jointly design and analyze surveys examining health care issues. USA Today retains control over the content published by the paper.