Study: Chronic disease dramatically up, access to care down

The number of working-age adults who reported having a major chronic condition rose 25 percent between 1997 and 2006, according to new research from the Kaiser Family Foundation (Source: “Eroding Access Among Nonelderly U.S. Adults With Chronic Conditions: Ten Years Of Change,” Health Affairs, July 22, 2008).

By 2006 nearly 58 million adults between the ages of 18 and 64 suffered from at least one of seven major chronic conditions, according to the study, which was published on the Web site for Health Affairs magazine. During the same time period, access to care has greatly reduced for those without insurance, according to Kaiser.