FDA/CDC

Cost led to missed care for 4.5% of Americans in 2017


 

The percentage of Americans who went without medical care due to cost rose to 4.5% in 2017, reversing a 6-year trend, the National Center for Health Statistics reported.

The rate was 4.4% in 2016, which represented a slowdown in what had been steady decline over the previous 5 years, according to data from the National Health Interview Survey. Declining rates corresponded with the implementation of early provisions of the Affordable Care Act in 2010.

Persons who failed to obtain needed medical care due to cost

The 2017 rate varied considerably by age group. Not surprisingly, more working-age people – those aged 18-64 years – reported that they did not seek medical care at some point in the previous 12 months due to cost (6.1%). The rate was 1.2% for those under 18 years and 2.7% for the Medicare eligible – those aged 65 years and older.

For 2016, the rates were 6.2% for those aged 18-64 years, 1.2% for the under-18 group, and 2.1% for the 65+ group, the data show.

Among females of all ages in 2017, 4.8% failed to get needed care at some point in the previous year, compared with 4.1% of men. Those numbers were unchanged from 2016 but down from 4.9% for females in 2015 and up from 4.0% for males that year, the NCHS said.

In 2017, the rate also varied by race/ethnicity – 4.1% for whites, 5.3% for Hispanics, 6.1% for blacks – and by location – 4.1% for large metropolitan areas, 4.9% for small metro areas, and 5.5% for rural locales, according to the early release of survey data.

Recommended Reading

‘Captain of the ship’ doctrine
MDedge Hematology and Oncology
6 ways to reduce liability by improving doc-nurse teams
MDedge Hematology and Oncology
Azar blames PBMs for no drop in prescription prices
MDedge Hematology and Oncology
FDA already balances safety, access to investigational drugs
MDedge Hematology and Oncology
Rural cancer patients report faster care than urban counterparts
MDedge Hematology and Oncology
Do free meals to physicians affect opioid prescribing?
MDedge Hematology and Oncology
Administration eases way for small businesses to buy insurance in bulk
MDedge Hematology and Oncology
HHS’s Azar teases changes to APMs
MDedge Hematology and Oncology
Trump support high in counties with chronic opioid use
MDedge Hematology and Oncology
Trump administration proposes changes to HHS, FDA
MDedge Hematology and Oncology