Insured losing access to healthcare: U.S. study

WASHINGTON (AFP) — Nearly half of Americans are saving less, and nearly a quarter have reined in their spending on food and healthcare as soaring petrol prices bite into household budgets, a survey showed Thursday.

"Forty-five percent of respondents have been putting less money into savings accounts; 24 percent have cut back on essentials like food or healthcare; and 17 percent have charged more expenses on credit cards -- all troubling trends," according to the Auto Pulse survey, conducted by the Consumer Reports National Research Center.

Nearly a third of the 884 people polled earlier this month said they are walking or riding bicycles more to save money, and 16 percent said they are using public transportation more, said the poll, which was conducted as petrol prices climbed above the four-dollar mark.

"In the 2007 Auto Pulse survey on gas prices, Consumer Reports found the tipping point at which motorists said they would drastically reduce driving would be 3.50 dollars," a report accompanying the survey said.

"And they have. Year to date, 20 billion fewer miles have been traveled compared to 2007 for the same period," the report said, citing Department of Transportation data.

The new "tipping point" would come when petrol hits 4.32 dollars per gallon, the report said.

That was only 24 cents higher than the national average earlier this week, it said, and indicated that Americans have "less flexibility in their budgets" this year compared to last.

More than three quarters of Americans blame botched government policies for record high petrol prices, and nine in 10 favor developing alternative energy sources as a way out of the crisis, according to the survey.

Petrol prices have climbed nearly 40 percent since February, when a gallon of gas cost 2.96 dollars. On Monday, a gallon cost 4.08 dollars, the report said, citing data from the Energy Information Administration.

Seventy-five percent of Americans blamed oil companies for pushing up the price of gas; 70 percent blamed foreign oil producers and 68 percent the volatile situation in the Middle East, according to the survey.

Ninety percent of Americans backed the development of alternative energy as the best way out of the energy quagmire.

Other suggestions were to negotiate lower prices with oil exporting nations -- backed by 84 percent of respondents -- or to allow more offshore oil drilling in the United States, an option favored by 81 percent.

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