More Americans Skipping Medical Care to Save

[xchrom]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-09-27/more-americans-say-they-re-skipping-medical-care-to-save-money.html

More people in the U.S. ignored their doctor’s advice and skipped prescription drugs or medical procedures to save money in 2011 than a year earlier, a Consumer Reports survey showed.

Almost half of the 1,226 consumers taking at least one medication said they didn’t fill prescriptions, took less medicine than a prescribed dose or failed to undergo a medical test advised by their physician, according to the survey. That’s 9 percentage points higher than the 39 percent reported in 2010 by the annual survey.

Even with the U.S. recession ending more than two years ago, one in six American households and one in four with incomes less than $50,000 told Yonkers, New York-based Consumer Reports that they felt stress over how much they must spend on medical care. The pressure is prompting consumers to pursue potentially dangerous strategies for coping, said John Santa, director of Consumer Reports’ Health Ratings Center.

“The rising percentage of people putting off health care makes us wonder if we are really done with the recession,” Santa, a physician, said in a telephone interview. “This is one of the most sensitive barometers of how people are coping with the financial pressures.”



***:scared:

[dkf]

1. Irony is it costs more for health insurance than a doctors visit and medication.

[subterranean]

3. That's true for routine checkups and minor problems.

It's much cheaper to pay for those out of pocket than to pay insurance premiums PLUS the deductible amount.

On the other hand, any problems that require tests or a hospital visit will quickly run up the bill into the thousands, or tens of thousands.

[katsy]

2. The recession ended 2 years ago?

Really???? Ohhhh yea. The banksters got theirs. We covered the investor's risk taking and the m/i crooks got the rest.

It's just that the jobs started leaving decades ago, which exodus has been escalating. Thirty years without real wage increases to cover the cost of healthcare, food inflation and grand theft larceny by credit card companies et al and someone is surprised people are cutting back on healthcare?

Give me a fucking break.

[OhioChick]

4. K&R n/t

[kestrel91316]

5. I have to skip medical insurance and medical care altogether, let alone

prescription meds, because of the cost.

I'm on the Repig healthcare plan: PRAY you stay healthy.

[xchrom]

6. +1

[AlecBGreen]

7. Skipped a hospital visit for a dog bite to the face

got laid open pretty good but my last encounter with the ER set me back $800 for 7 stiches and a shot of lydacaine. Keep in mind I am a public employee and have pretty good health insurance (or so I thought). This time, money being short, I said to heck with it.

[RaleighNCDUer]

8. I'm with you - also a public employee with good insurance, but

today I'm intending a conversation with my physical therapist about stopping my bi-weekly sessions for a back injury because I can't afford to both make my co-pay and send my unemployed daughter a sustenance check every month. Choosing one or the other, I have to support my daughter.