Monday, April 20, 2009

1 in 5 Americans is postponing health care

Based on past experience, this study will generate comments from conservatives on many blogs telling lies about how well our country compares in health care, in order to neutralize the real facts. They know that for most people, once they form a belief, it is almost impossible to change their beliefs, so they try to get their misinformation out first.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30306780/

updated 10:20 a.m. ET, Mon., April 20, 2009

WASHINGTON - Twenty percent of Americans say they have delayed or postponed medical care, mostly doctor visits, and many said cost was the main reason, according to a survey by Thomson Reuters released on Monday.

That figure is up since 2006, the last time the question was asked on the survey, when 15.9 percent of people said they had postponed or canceled medical care in the past year.

"The results of this survey have serious implications for public health officials, hospital administrators, and healthcare consumers," Gary Pickens of the Healthcare division of Thomson Reuters, who led the study, said in a statement. "We are seeing a positive correlation between Americans losing their access to employer-sponsored health insurance and deferral of healthcare."
...
Pickens and colleagues found the percentage of households with employer-sponsored insurance declined to 54.6 percent in 2009 from 59 percent in early 2008. The percentage of adults covered by Medicaid, the state-federal health insurance plan for the poor, rose to 14.5 percent in 2009 from 11.9 percent in 2008.

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