As Americans struggle to afford groceries and utilities, a new study finds that three Ohio cities are among the most expensive for another essential — medical care.
Cleveland, Toledo and Cincinnati are in the top 11 in terms of how big a bite medical expenses take out of their incomes, according to a WalletHub analysis of the 100 largest American cities.
For decades, inflating health care costs have far outpaced inflation in the economy as a whole. Between 2000 and 2024, the cost of medical care rose 121%, compared to 86% for the overall economy, according to the Peterson-KFF Health Tracker.
Meanwhile, grocery prices have jumped more than 29% since 2020 with “no end in sight,” NPR reported in September. And many Ohio electricity consumers have seen increases as high as 44% just this year, according to Consumer Energy Solutions.
Ohioans’ pay hasn’t kept up. Adjusted for inflation, median annual income has actually dropped from about $71,000 in 2019 to $67,873 four years later, according to the Ohio Housing Finance Agency.
All of that is leaving families in a bind, the WalletHub report said.
“As health care gets increasingly more expensive, more and more people find themselves struggling to afford essential services and medicines,” it quoted analyst Chip Lupo as saying. “While some cities have lower prices than others, the average income in many places still may not be enough to keep up with the costs, especially when consumers have also faced inflated prices across all other facets of their budgets over the past few years.”
So it’s not great news that some Ohio cities are among the nation’s most expensive when it comes to health care.
WalletHub analyzed data collected in November by the Census Bureau and the Council for Community and Economic Research.
It compared the cost of doctor, dentist and optometrist visits as well the prices of ibuprofen and insulin glargine in each of the 100 largest cities. It then expressed those costs as a percentage of the cities’ median annual incomes.
Cleveland had the dubious distinction of coming in second, with medical costs making up 11.35% of median monthly household income.
“This is largely due to the fact that Cleveland has the lowest median household income in the country, at $39,187 per year,” the report said, adding that medicine prices were relatively high in the city, while the cost of provider visits was relatively low.
Toledo came in fourth on the list, with medical costs making up 11.03% of median monthly income, and Cincinnati was 11th, at 8.98%. Columbus was 64th at 6.09%, putting it in the lower-cost half of big cities.
This story was originally published by the Ohio Capital Journal and republished here with permission.