It's one of the richest countries in the world - yet its healthcare is failing millions

This is a stark statistic: 34 million Americans know someone who died after being unable to afford needed medical treatment.

Gallup and West Health asked 1,095 people the following question: "Has there been a time in the last five years when a friend or family member passed away after not receiving treatment for their condition due to their inability to pay for it?"

While 13% answered "yes," there are significant variations among the sample.

People of colour were far more likely than white people to know someone who died after being unable to pay for medical treatment – 20.3% vs. 9.6%.

Younger respondents were also more likely to have answered "yes" – 16.9% of respondents age 18-44 and 12.4% of respondents age 45-64. Only 6.6% of baby boomers answered "yes," by comparison.

In 2017, the median household income in the United States was $61,372 – and not surprisingly, income also affected respondents' answers. Among those earning less than $40,000, 18.5% were likely to have known someone who couldn’t afford potentially life-saving treatment, compared to 9.1% of those earning more than $100,000.

In a country which does not have a universal healthcare program, the link between income and access to services – or the lack of access – is hard to miss.

But the Gallup-West Health poll also illustrated a less obvious finding: the correlation between political affiliation and the likelihood of a person knowing someone who died under these circumstances.

Just 4.9% of Republicans answered "yes," while 14.8% of Democrats and 16.4% of independents answered "yes."