ATLANTA--Millions of U.S. residents with chronic conditions are not receiving appropriate care because they are uninsured, according to a new study, "A National Study of Chronic Disease Prevalence and Access to Care in Uninsured U.S. Adults," published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
For the study, researchers analyzed National Center for Health Statistics surveys of adults ages 18 to 64. They found that about 11 million people out of the 36 million who reported having no health insurance in 2004--the latest data examined in the study--had been diagnosed with a chronic condition, including high blood pressure, diabetes, asthma and emphysema, among others. The study also found that most of the uninsured with chronic illnesses forgo doctor's visits and instead rely solely on emergency room visits for care.
Researchers from the Cambridge Health Alliance and Harvard Medical School found that 22.6 percent of those surveyed with one or more chronic illnesses had not seen a medical professional in the last year, compared with 6.2 percent of those with insurance. In addition, 7.1 percent of those without insurance identified an emergency room as their standard site for care, compared with 1.1 percent of those with insurance.
A statement from lead author Andrew Wilper of the University of Washington-Seattle noted “many of these individuals end up with preventable emergency room visits, hospitalizations, amputations, kidney failure or worse because their chronic condition has gotten out of control.”
"For some of the 11.4 million uninsured Americans with serious chronic conditions, access to care seems to be unobtainable; many may face early disability and death as a result," the study's authors said.