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Exhibit · Q19 vs Q30
What the public perceives (Q19) vs. what people in recovery actually experienced (Q30) — the same 12 barriers, tested on both audiences.
Methods note: The fairest apples-to-apples metric is % calling each a major barrier, because the scales differ (gen pop had a "moderate" step; recovery had major / minor / not-a-barrier). Gen pop figures are weighted; recovery figures are the 304 who lived it.
The Comparison
Sorted by the gap between recovery experience and public perception. Positive gap = recovery exceeded public perception.
Where They Agree
The ranking is basically right
Cost (53% / 34%) and insurance denial (52% / 35%) top or co-top both lists. The public correctly identifies money and coverage as the leading barriers.
Job/housing fear is the closest match
42% GP vs. 38% REC major — and it's the recovery sample's #1 experienced major barrier, edging cost and insurance.
The awareness gap is lived, not just perceived
'Didn't know the options existed' is nearly identical on both sides (29% vs. 28% major). Roughly 3 in 10 people who actually sought recovery ran into it.
Barriers are the rule, not the exception
Every one of the 12 barriers registers for a majority of each audience at some level. No one hits just one wall.
Where They Diverge
The public concentrates the problem in money
Gen pop majors run from 53% down to 19% — a steep curve peaking at cost and insurance. Recovery majors sit in a tight band of 27–38% across all twelve items. People who went through it faced a dozen medium-high walls at once, not one or two.
The public underrates inside-the-system friction
The biggest gaps where recovery experience exceeds public perception: too time intensive (+13 pts), swapping one drug for another (+10), side effects (+7), provider stigma (+7), and transportation (+4).
Provider stigma is the hidden barrier
The public ranks provider stigma dead last. People in recovery put it mid-pack. The system's own gatekeepers are a barrier the outside world doesn't suspect.
Internalized stigma functions as an access barrier
The 'swapping one drug for another' gap is the story with legs — one of the highest experienced barriers among people in recovery, rhyming with Q14, where 22% of the recovery sample themselves endorse the replacement framing.
The Policy Read
The public already supplies the mandate on cost and insurance
Q29a corroborates the insurance story — 53% of medication users were actually delayed or denied. The public sees the money wall clearly.
Lived experience adds the second front the public can't see
Time burden, transportation, provider stigma, and the "finish line" myth. That's the case for wraparound access fixes and provider-facing education — and the job/housing fear finding argues confidentiality and employment protections belong in the package alongside price.