Even when Americans are lucky enough to have some form of health insurance, too many find that the services they need are not covered by their plans.
March 13, 2007 (Press Release) --
Even when Americans are lucky enough to have some form of health insurance, too many find that the services they need are not covered by their plans, new research shows.
"It's not just about insurance," said Dr. Harlan Krumholz, the lead researcher of a study that found that poor coverage kept one in five heart attack patients from getting needed care.
"Two-thirds of the patients had insurance," noted Krumholz, a professor of medicine at Yale University School of Medicine.
His team's study is one of a series of reports on the issue of health coverage published in the March 14 edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
In the first study, which surveyed almost 2,500 heart attack patients, Krumholz's team found that 20 percent of them said money had been a roadblock to getting needed health care services after their attack. Generally, these patients ended up having a poorer quality of life and an increased rate of re-hospitalization, the study found.
"It's one thing to say we really want full insurance in this country, but as long as you've got people who are inadequately covered and feel they have barriers to access to health care, then we are going to have continuing problems," Krumholz said. "The debate needs to be about coverage and how to eliminate these barriers to needed care."
Another report found that among people who have a serious injury or develop a chronic condition, those who are uninsured find it much more difficult to get health care and are more likely to suffer poor short-term health.
"People who don't have health insurance run a serious risk of declining health should they have an accident or develop a chronic condition," said study author Jack Hadley, from the Urban Institute, a nonpartisan research group based in Washington, D.C. "There is a real difference between people with insurance and without insurance in terms of what happens to them when they get sick," he said.
Furthermore, Americans who do not have insurance and then get sick find it becomes much harder to get insured. He said insurance companies have screening and selection rules in place that limit who gets affordable insurance.
The result of not having health insurance has social consequences too, Hadley said. "Ultimately, it can be a spiral effect that leads to greater difficulty getting a job and winding up on some sort of public health insurance program," he said.
The results of a third study found that people with health insurance who switched to high-deductible health plans were less likely to go to the emergency room for minor medical problems and less likely to be hospitalized.
source: http://health.yahoo.com/
"It's not just about insurance," said Dr. Harlan Krumholz, the lead researcher of a study that found that poor coverage kept one in five heart attack patients from getting needed care.
"Two-thirds of the patients had insurance," noted Krumholz, a professor of medicine at Yale University School of Medicine.
His team's study is one of a series of reports on the issue of health coverage published in the March 14 edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
In the first study, which surveyed almost 2,500 heart attack patients, Krumholz's team found that 20 percent of them said money had been a roadblock to getting needed health care services after their attack. Generally, these patients ended up having a poorer quality of life and an increased rate of re-hospitalization, the study found.
"It's one thing to say we really want full insurance in this country, but as long as you've got people who are inadequately covered and feel they have barriers to access to health care, then we are going to have continuing problems," Krumholz said. "The debate needs to be about coverage and how to eliminate these barriers to needed care."
Another report found that among people who have a serious injury or develop a chronic condition, those who are uninsured find it much more difficult to get health care and are more likely to suffer poor short-term health.
"People who don't have health insurance run a serious risk of declining health should they have an accident or develop a chronic condition," said study author Jack Hadley, from the Urban Institute, a nonpartisan research group based in Washington, D.C. "There is a real difference between people with insurance and without insurance in terms of what happens to them when they get sick," he said.
Furthermore, Americans who do not have insurance and then get sick find it becomes much harder to get insured. He said insurance companies have screening and selection rules in place that limit who gets affordable insurance.
The result of not having health insurance has social consequences too, Hadley said. "Ultimately, it can be a spiral effect that leads to greater difficulty getting a job and winding up on some sort of public health insurance program," he said.
The results of a third study found that people with health insurance who switched to high-deductible health plans were less likely to go to the emergency room for minor medical problems and less likely to be hospitalized.
source: http://health.yahoo.com/
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