Rising costs forcing half of U.S. adults to delay doctor visits, study shows

http://www.kansascity.com/382/story/330704.html

By DIANE STAFFORD
The Kansas City Star

Higher health-care costs are causing about half of American adults to delay going to the doctor and about one-fourth to skip filling their medicine prescriptions.

Those were key findings released today from the 10th annual “Health Confidence Survey,” a measure of how people use and feel about the health-care industry.

“It should be no surprise that the overwhelming majority of Americans are not satisfied with the costs of health insurance,” said Dallas Salisbury, president of the nonprofit, nonpartisan Employee Benefit Research Institute, which produced the report.

On the positive side, though, the higher costs are causing many Americans to be more health conscious.

Eighty-one percent of the 1,000 adults surveyed in May and June said they are trying to take better care of themselves. That was up from 71 percent two years ago.

Higher costs also are sparking more discussion about treatment options and expenses, according to 66 percent of the respondents. That was up from 57 percent in 2005.

FULL story at link.

I ask because the cost of an emergency room visit can be much be higher than routine medical care.

I understand that a large percentage of people who visit an emergency room do not have a family physician.

IMO, for those people, a visit to the emergency is a rational act but it does increase the cost of health care.

for ALL citizens? How GD insane is that? How much of the GDP do you think THOSE criminal scoundrels will want; 20%, 25% or MORE? Voters say they want change BUT vote for prospective nominees offering only more of the same.

After her cancer surgery and mastectomy, she chose not to go through the chemo and radiation treatments. That was almost five years ago. She even stopped taking the maintenance drugs like tamoxifen after a few months because they made her feel so bad. She made this decision because she read up on it extensively. If she has a reoccurence, they will just put her back on the drugs. It was not a financial decision, though. We have the means and can afford any treatment she desired, she just didn't want to go through the misery for something that may or may not work. The poor doctors and clinics lost out on the many thousands of dollars it would have cost, bu they'll survive.

She gave the remaining drugs she had, which amounted to several months worth, to a single mom she met on a breast cancer forum. She could not afford them herself, and was making a plea to anyone who had any left over. It made the wife feel really good to be able to help someone out and not waste the money spent on those prescriptions. It probably wasn't legal, but it seemed like the right thing to do.

Since the cancer was removed from her body, we have spent every day together. You are never cured of cancer till you die of something else, but one cannot let the fear of reoccurence dominate their thoughts or life. Since she has made it five years, the outlook is good, and we intend to spend as many days together as we can, even if we both live to be a hundred!