Census study: Americans visiting doctors less than a decade ago

New national data from the Census Bureau found that working-age adults in the U.S. visit doctors less than they did 10 years ago (Source: "Doctor Visits Dropping, New Census Figures Show," New York Times, Oct. 2, 2012)

According to the report (pdf, 16 pages), people age 18 to 64 made an average of 3.9 visits to doctors, nurses and other medical professionals in 2010, down from 4.8 visits in 2001.

The report also found that non-Hispanic blacks were more likely to report their health as fair or poor (12.8 percent) compared with Hispanics (8.5 percent) or non-Hispanic whites (10.3 percent).