Medical care falls victim to recession

McClatchy Newspapers

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The nation’s ailing economy is plunging the health care of millions of Americans into critical condition.

More than half of American households have cut back on health care in the past year because of concerns about the costs, according to a new Kaiser Family Foundation survey.

We’re putting off visits to the doctor and dentist. We’re postponing needed tests. We’re not filling prescriptions. We’re relying more on home remedies and over-the-counter drugs.

For the persistent and resourceful, affordable medical care is available. Free clinics are packed, and hospitals are seeing more patients seeking help with their medical bills.

“We’re filling more appointments than we ever had in the past,” said Sheri Wood, executive director of the Kansas City Free Health Clinic.

In Washington, President Barack Obama and Democrats in Congress have fast-tracked health care reform, working to have a plan in place this year to make coverage available to the nation’s 48 million uninsured.

Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, nominated to be the U.S. secretary of health and human services, is expected to play a leading role in the reform effort.

At a summit with health care interest groups earlier this month in Washington, Obama said there was “a clear consensus that the need for health care reform is here and now.”

The recession is giving health care reform new urgency. As incomes shrink and layoffs mount, more people are losing their health insurance, putting critically needed care out of reach.

For each 1 percentage point increase in the unemployment rate, about 1.1 million are added to the rolls of the uninsured, according to one estimate.

Signs are mounting that people are cutting back on health care. Nationwide, more than 1 million cancer survivors are foregoing what they think is necessary care because of the cost, according to new data from a National Cancer Institute researcher.

Even those with discretionary income are trimming back.

A survey of plastic surgeons shows big decreases in demand for high-ticket procedures such as breast augmentations and liposuction. Demand for lower-priced enhancements such as Botox has held steady or even increased.

A general decline in elective procedures is one of the reasons cited by the Federal Reserve for the falling patient volumes reported by health care providers in the Fed’s San Francisco, Minneapolis and Richmond, Va., regions.

Laid-off workers who had health insurance through their employers can maintain coverage through COBRA, the federal Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985. But workers have had to pay 102 percent of the full cost of the insurance for COBRA coverage — well over $12,000 for a typical family policy.

Some relief is coming from the new federal economic stimulus package. It provides a temporary 65 percent COBRA premium subsidy to many workers laid off from Sept. 1 of last year through the end of this year.

Doctors hope the poor economy doesn’t force patients to sacrifice their health.