Poll: As the Delta Variant Continues, 38 Percent of U.S. Households Report Facing Serious Financial Problems Despite Two-Thirds Receiving Government Assistance

Princeton, N.J.—According to an NPR/Robert Wood Johnson Foundation/Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health poll, 38 percent of U.S. households report facing serious financial problems in the past few months, as the delta variant outbreak has extended health and economic problems faced by households over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic (see Figure 1). These serious financial problems are cited despite 67 percent of U.S. households reporting they have received financial assistance from the government in the past few months.

This poll, Household Experiences in America During the Delta Variant Outbreak, was conducted August 2, 2021–September 7, 2021, among 3,616 U.S. adults. Adults in this survey were asked to report on serious problems facing both themselves and others living in their households, so measures are reported as a percentage of households for all household-related questions. See the Methodology below for further details.

There is a sharp income divide in serious financial problems faced by households, as 59 percent of those with annual incomes below $50,000 report facing serious financial problems in the past few months, compared with 18 percent of households with annual incomes of $50,000 or more. Another significant problem for many U.S. households is losing their savings during the COVID-19 outbreak. Nineteen percent (19%) of U.S. households report losing all of their savings during the COVID-19 outbreak and not currently having any savings to fall back on.

In housing, at the time the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) eviction ban expired, 27 percent of renters nationally reported serious problems paying their rent in the past few months.

In healthcare, 18 percent of households report anyone in their household has been unable to get medical care for a serious problem in the past few months when they needed it, with 76 percent of those unable to get care reporting negative health consequences as a result. And while 42 percent of households report using telehealth in the past few months with wide reported satisfaction (82% satisfied), 64 percent of those using telehealth say they would have preferred an in-person visit over telehealth in their last visit.

“While Americans have widely received help from the government during the COVID-19 outbreak, millions are still having very serious problems with their finances, healthcare, and their children’s education,” said Robert J. Blendon, co-director of the survey and Richard L. Menschel Professor of Public Health and Professor of Health Policy and Political Analysis Emeritus at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. “These problems are concentrated in families who earn less than $50,000 a year, with millions of households who have lost their savings and have nothing to fall back on.”

When it comes to their children’s education, 69 percent of households with children in grades K–12 last school year report their children fell behind in their learning because of the COVID-19 outbreak. This includes 36 percent of all households with children in K–12 reporting their children fell behind a lot (see Figure 2). Thinking about the upcoming school year, 70 percent of households whose children fell behind last school year believe it will be difficult for children in their household to catch up on education losses from last school year.

In a period when the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has found that reported hate crimes in the United States have increased, an examination of different racial and ethnic minority households’ personal experiences in the past few months shows stark fears of being threatened or attacked. One in four Asian households in the United States (25%) report fearing someone might threaten or physically attack (see Figure 3) them because of their race/ethnicity in the past few months, while 22 percent of Native American households, 21 percent of Black households, 8 percent of Latino households, and 7 percent of White households also report this.

About the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

For more than 45 years the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has worked to improve health and health care. We are working alongside others to build a national Culture of Health that provides everyone in America a fair and just opportunity for health and wellbeing. For more information, visit www.rwjf.org.