Copyright 2000 Plain Dealer Publishing Co.
The
Plain Dealer
October 25, 2000 Wednesday, FINAL / ALL
SECTION: NATIONAL; Pg. 20A
LENGTH: 312 words
HEADLINE:
UNINSURED OFTEN LACK NEEDED CARE, STUDY FINDS
BYLINE: FROM WIRE REPORTS
DATELINE: CHICAGO
BODY:
Alarmingly high numbers of uninsured adults aren't getting
needed medical care, and the problem is especially severe among those not in
good health, Harvard researchers say.
The findings
contradict the notion that the nation's uninsured can get
needed services through various "safety net" measures, the researchers wrote in
today's Journal of the American Medical Association. Two-thirds of the 223,128
survey respondents had been without health insurance in the long term, which
means for at least one year.
About 70 percent of the long-term uninsured
who were in poor health and about half of those who were in fair health said
they had not gotten needed care such as checkups or treatment for specific
problems.
Twenty-six percent of the long-term uninsured with high blood
pressure or diabetes said they hadn't had a checkup in two years. The study also
found that 32 percent of women without insurance for at least a year had not
gotten a mammogram for at least two years.
"From a public health
perspective, these numbers are very concerning," said the researchers, led by
Dr. John Ayanian, associate professor of medicine and health care policy at
Harvard and at Brigham and Women's Hospital.
Dr. Sandra Adamson
Fryhofer, president of the American College of Physicians-American Society of
Internal Medicine, which funded the study, said the results show that a lack of
health insurance "is a serious health risk that needs to be treated with the
same sense of urgency as not wearing seat belts or drunk driving."
Census Bureau data released last month showed that 42.6 million
Americans were uninsured last year, or about 15.5 percent of the population.
The Harvard study analyzed data from a 1997-98 Centers of Disease
Control and Prevention survey of adults ages 18 to 64. Fourteen percent lacked
health insurance, nearly 10 percent long-term.
GRAPHIC: BOX: GOING WITHOUT; SOURCE:JAMA;
GRAPHICS BY: ASSOICAITED PRESS
LOAD-DATE: October 26,
2000 
