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CDC report: Nearly 20% of Americans cannot afford needed health care
A new CDC report revealed that nearly one in five Americans were not able to afford needed health care.
The report, a compilation of more than 150 different sets of health data, also highlighted the emerging problem of limited access to care. This section reported that nearly 20% of Americans indicated that they do not have access to specific aspects of health care like prescription medication, mental health care, dental care or eyeglasses. An additional 10% said that their care was delayed. One in 10 women reported that they had experienced delays in care because they lacked access to transportation.
“There has been important progress made in many areas such as increased life expectancy and decreases in deaths from leading killers such as heart disease and cancer,” CDC Director Julie Gerberding, MD, said in a press release. “This report shows that access to health care is still an issue where we need improvement.”
Despite the main findings, the study also indicated several positive trends. The report noted that there was a 46% increase in the number of babies vaccinated for pneumococcal infections since 2002. The report noted that the age-adjusted percentage of adults with high cholesterol was down 17% since 1988 to 1994.
Rising drug costs
A problem for many people with limited access to health care is the price of prescription drugs. According to the CDC, one in 10 people aged 18 to 64 years reported that they were unable to afford prescription drugs within the last year due to high costs. The rising costs are, in part, due to the expensive research and development process required to bring new drugs to the market.
“Many people, from the medication standpoint, fail to appreciate that the development of medical products today costs far more than it should,” Raymond Woosley, MD, PhD, President and CEO of The Critical Path Institute, Tucson, Ariz., said in an interview. “The cost is so high because so many medical products fail during development, adding to the cost of those that do make it to market.”
According to Woosley, the FDA attributes the problem to the outmoded drug development process. A recent report from the FDA’s Science Board, an external advisory group, concluded that underfunding of the FDA has created a serious public health problem.
“Congress hasn’t given the FDA adequate resources to help the science get translated into practice, and 95% of the drugs that go into clinical testing never make it to the market,” Woosley said. “Last year, we spent $60 billion and we only got 19 or 20 new drugs through the system. That’s why medicines cost so much, because they’re paying for this inefficiency and the high failure rate.” – by Eric Raible
To read or download the full CDC report, visit www.cdc.gov/nchs/hus.htm.