Health care access problems surge among insured Americans

One report finds that millions more insured patients are delaying or not getting care, while another shows a spike in "underinsured" Americans.
By Doug Trapp, AMNews staff. July 21, 2008
Washington -- Middle-income insured Americans are increasingly experiencing health care access difficulties that are more commonly associated with their lower-income counterparts and the uninsured, according to two recent reports. These troubles include delayed or unmet needs for medical care, high insurance deductibles and difficulty getting in to see physicians.
One in five Americans -- 59 million people -- reported delaying or not getting needed health care in 2007, up from one in seven in 2003, found a June 26 Center for Studying Health System Change report. "We've been tracking access to care for 10 years, and this is by far the biggest change that we've seen in those 10 years," said Peter Cunningham, PhD, study co-author and senior fellow at the center. Of those reporting an access problem last year, 43.5 million had insurance, compared with 25.9 million in 2003./.../