Recession led to cuts in health system use

The New York Times: The recession is causing d people in the United States to cut their use of the health care system "much deeper than in countries with universal health care systems," a new report says. "The study, published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, finds that 'Americans, who face higher out-of-pocket health care costs, have reduced their routine medical care' much more than people in Britain, Canada, France and Germany. Individuals and families in all five countries lost income because of unemployment and lost wealth because of steep declines in stock prices." Because about 15 percent of Americans are uninsured, the reductions in care were greater than elsewhere. The researchers said that "26.5 percent reported reducing their use of routine medical care since the start of the global economic crisis in 2007" (Pear, 8/16).

---

This article was reprinted from khn.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.