More than 20 percent of the U.S. population in 2007--one in five people--reported not getting or delaying needed medical care in the previous 12 months, up significantly from 14 percent in 2003, according to a national study released June 26 by the Center for Studying Health System Change (HSC).
In 2007, more than 23 million people reported going without needed care, and approximately 36 million people delayed care, for a total of about 59 million people reporting access problems, according to findings from HSC’s 2007 Health Tracking Household Survey, a nationally representative survey containing information on 18,000 people; the survey had a 43 percent response rate. HSC has conducted the survey five times since 1997 as part of the Community Tracking Study, and the 2007 survey shows the sharpest increase in access problems in a decade, particularly among insured Americans.
The study’s findings are detailed in a new HSC tracking report, Falling Behind: Americans’ Access to Medical Care Deteriorates, 2003-2007. Read the report.
