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Survey paints bleak picture of rising health-care costs | from http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07297/827880-28.stm
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
By Ann Belser, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
If you are paying more this year for Health Care than you were in 2006, you aren't alone.
In a nationwide survey, a Washington, D.C.-based research group found that 63 percent of Americans were paying more for Health Care than last year.
To keep those costs under control, 81 percent of those affected by rising Health Costs report that they are taking better care of themselves -- up from 71 percent last year.
On the flip side, 64 percent report that they now only will see a doctor for more serious concerns (up from 54 percent last year) and 28 percent say they are skipping doses of Medications or not filling their Prescriptions (up from 21 percent last year).
The full report, which is being released today by the Employee Benefit Research Institute at www.ebri.org, shows the High Costs of Health Care are striking a blow to Families' Finances: 30 percent of those who reported higher Health-Care Costs also said they have cut back on their Retirement Contributions and 52 percent said they cut back on other Savings.
Rising Health-Care Costs have meant that 29 percent of the people affected are having trouble paying for Basic Needs, such as food, heat or housing, and 20 percent reported increasing their Credit Card Debt to pay those bills.
"Is it having an impact on their health? We didn't get that deep. It's hard to do that in a telephone survey," said Paul Fronstin, a senior research associate at the institute.
This is the 10th annual Health Confidence Survey.
In addition to personal changes in how Americans handle Health Care, the survey also looks at the overall Health-Care System.
More than 70 percent of respondents think the system needs to be Changed, with 24 percent of them saying the Health-Care System needs a Complete Overhaul and 47 percent stating it requires Major Changes.
When people were asked to rate the system, 29 percent said it was Poor, up from 15 percent who rated the system as Poor 10 years ago.
Another 30 percent gave the Health-Care System the low rating of Fair.
Only 4 percent of the people rated the Health-Care System as Excellent, which has been fairly consistent over the decade that the survey has been conducted.
The survey of 1,000 adults was conducted between May 17 and June 10 with Matthew Greenwald and Associates, a public opinion and market research firm. |  | asked by grandpa24551, 10/25/2007 |
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