A-Third Without Insurance Are Chronically Ill

Nearly a third of the America’s working-age population suffers from at least one of seven chronic medical conditions. Making matters worse, they do not have an insurance cover, a new study published in the medical journal Annals of Internal Medicine finds.

Besides cardiovascular disease, diabetes and hypertension, other conditions examined included asthma, high cholesterol, chronic obstructive pulmonarydefine disease or a previous diagnosis of cancerdefine.

Although the study didn’t focus on the health consequences or lack of insurance, ‘no insurance could mean missed care, fading health, earlier death’, experts say.

Voicing the concern, Dr. Andrew Wilper, instructor in medicine at the University of Washington in Seattle said, “This is something that is very true in my clinical experience. The uninsured can't get in to see the doctor, they miss medications, their blood pressure is out of control and, really, you see devastating consequences."

Based on the analysis of government health surveys of adults aged between 18 and 64, the report estimates a whopping 11 million of the 36 million people without insurance had received a chronic-condition diagnosis n 2004.

Moving forward to 2006 figures, the quantum of uninsured people soared to 47 million. Replicating past uninsured-chronic illness ratio, nearly 16 million people with chronic illness do not have a health insurance cover.

Moreover, striking differences were noticed when researchers compared uninsured individuals with insured individuals.

Nearly 26 percent people not insured reportedly had no standard site of care, compared to only 6.2 percent who were insured. As high as 22 percent people without insurance bunked their medical visits last year compared to 6.2 percent of insured people.

7.1 percent of uninsured people suffering from at least one of the seven chronic conditions reported that the emergency room was their standard site of medical care, however, only 1.1 percent of those carrying insurance responded alike.

Warning that lack of insurance along with chronic illness can be a potentially lethal combination, Andrew P. Wilper, a doctor affiliated with the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle and the study's lead author stated, "The notion that we can just write off millions of uninsured people because they're young just isn't true."