Fewer Americans are choosing not to pursue medical care for financial reasons, according to new information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
According to the CDC’s National Health Interview Survey, 4.5 percent of the people surveyed reported not getting medical attention they needed for financial reasons in 2015, down from 6.9 percent in 2009 and 2010.
This suggests that the Affordable Care Act’s changes in providing access to health insurance are making a different in the ability of people to get the care they believe they need.
Prior to the reform law’s passage, the proportion of people reporting that they chose not to seek care for financial reasons had been rising steadily since 1998.
This is good news for Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals, which often must deal with the medical and financial implications of serving especially large numbers of patients who, for financial reasons, have had limited and sporadic contact with the health care system over the years.
To learn more about the survey’s findings see this CQ HealthBeat report presented by the Commonwealth Fund and go here to see the CDC report Early Release of Selected Estimates Based on Data From the 2015 National Health Interview Survey.