Survey: Insured putting off needed care

A survey of 18,000 people found that 1 in 5 put off or declined medical treatment at some point in 2007, most often because of concern about out-of-pocket expenses (Source: “More Americans Delay Health Care,” Wall Street Journal, June 25, 2008).

That rate means an estimated 59 million Americans did not receive needed medical care in 2007, up from an estimated 36 million based on a similar survey taken in 2003. While the highest rate of respondents who said they went without care were the uninsured (38 percent), the largest increase from the 2003 survey was among those that did have insurance. Seventeen percent of insured respondents delayed or decided against care, compared to 11 percent of insured respondents in  2003.

The survey was undertaken by the nonpartisan Center for Studying Health System Change, through funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Kaiser Family Foundation and the federal government.