For most women, complex factors such as life stage, household responsibilities, financial situation, age, and dependents shape how they prioritize their health care needs, a PYMNTS Intelligence study found. And data from the 2024 Women's Wellness Index, created in collaboration with CareCredit based on a survey of more than 10,000 U.S. consumers, shows that these priorities ultimately impact overall health and well-being. It turned out to give.
Additional data from PYMNTS Intelligence (not included in the final report) shows that on average, women in the U.S. spend about $452 on others and spend about $452 annually on their own health and wellness. Spent $768.
However, various factors can change these spending habits. For example, a woman living alone spends about $800 on health and wellness needs, and that amount doesn't change much when a partner joins the group. But for the average woman, living with her partner means spending even more on her partner's health needs (an additional $582 per year), which has a significant impact on her budget. There is a possibility.
If a woman and her partner live under the same roof as their children, she will spend approximately $874 on her own health-related needs, but not on the health of others living in the household. You'll also spend $676 on administrative needs. On the other hand, a woman caring for her child alone spends less on her own health ($747), but spends $540 on someone else's health, and she spends less on her own health ($747). confirms that there is a willingness to sacrifice resources.
But as the old saying goes, money changes everything.
Women who earn more than $100,000 annually spend about $990 each year on their own health and wellness needs, while spending about $670 on the health and wellness needs of others. That means they spend about $1,678 a year on health and wellness costs. This is more than twice the amount that a woman living alone spends on her health each year.
Conversely, women who earn less than $50,000 a year allocate about $518 to their own health and wellness expenses, but spend less than $200 on the needs of others in their lives.
In the abstract, this type of health-related allocation may not seem to have a particular impact on the average woman's monthly budget, but as income decreases, women pay more for health-related allocations. They will be forced to make trade-offs, which could have real ramifications. PYMNTS Intelligence found in our research that it is not uncommon for women with lower incomes to avoid prescribed health screening guidelines due to the cost of the procedure. They also found that low-income people sometimes canceled medical appointments because they had to use funds set aside to cover copays to buy groceries.
