CDC Study Indicates Many Americans Lack Regular Source of Health Care

By James Arvantes
Posted: 12/18/2007, 4:00 p.m.

Nearly 20 percent of Americans between the ages of 18 and 64 did not have a regular source for health care in 2004 and 2005, a strong indication many Americans may not be receiving needed care, according to a study recently released by the CDC.

"Literature shows having health insurance and a usual source of care are associated with more medical visits, visits when you need them, and possibly better quality of care and better continuity of care," said Amy Bernstein, Sc.D., chief of the CDC's analytic studies branch at the Office of Analysis and Epidemiology and director of the study reported in Health, United States, 2007. (567-page PDF; About PDFs)

Health, United States, 2007 is a compilation of 150 different trend tables and 40 charts based on data from 60 different sources. The report looks at a variety of factors, including health status, health care utilization, resources and expenditures, to provide a snapshot of the nation's overall health.

Although the study does not provide an analysis of the data it covers, Bernstein noted that research shows having a usual source of care results in improved care.

The report also indicates that about 30 percent of adults between 18 and 24 years of age lacked a usual source of care -- a figure higher than that for any other age group. "Young adults are sort of a misunderstood group in that people mistakenly assume they don't get sick and don't need preventive care," said Bernstein.

She noted that many times, young adults lose coverage when they turn 19 -- their coverage under the State Children's Health Insurance Program expires, or they are no longer eligible for coverage through their parents' insurance plans.

Unlike previous years' reports, this year's report contains a special section on access to care that found nearly 20 percent of adult Americans could not afford one or more of the following types of services or products in 2005 because of costs:

medical care,
prescription drugs,
mental health care,
dental care or
eyeglasses.

"A lot of the current discussion on access to care centers on having universal (insurance) coverage or not having universal coverage," Bernstein said. "What we found when we were putting the access section together is there is more to the access-to-care issue than insurance coverage."

Insurance coverage may not be comprehensive or it may require deductibles or copays that cannot be paid by beneficiaries, undermining access to care, said Bernstein. "We have a chart that shows even wealthy people can spend more than 10 percent of their income on health care," she added. "So, clearly insurance is not covering everything."

The study also reached the following conclusions:

many rural areas have a shortage of physicians and other health care professionals, and individuals living in these areas or areas without specific services may have to travel long distances to obtain health care services;
the percentage of the population younger than 65 with no health insurance coverage was approximately 16 percent to 17 percent between 1999 and 2005, and uninsured individuals were far less likely to receive many types of health care than their insured counterparts;
one in 10 women between the ages of 46 and 64 with income below the poverty level reported delaying medical care because they did not have transportation to a health care facility;
the age-adjusted percentage of adults with high serum cholesterol was nearly 17 percent between 2001 and 2004, a reduction of about 4 percent from the levels reported between 1988 and 1994; and
prescription drug expenditures increased at much lower rates in 2005 than in previous years, climbing by only about 6 percent.