News Briefs Archive

The 3 Healthcare Treatments People Are Most Likely to Put Off

Dec. 5, 2018

Those patients you haven’t seen in a while may be avoiding you because they can’t afford the visit. Eyecare is among the top treatments people without health insurance will avoid, according to Shawn M. Carter, who, on the CNBC site, analyzed research that combined data from financial web site Earnin and survey results from a recent Harris Poll.

According to the research, which combined Earnin-user data with data from a Harris Poll survey of more than 2,000 adults, 54 percent of Americans say they’ve delayed care for themselves in the past year because of cost, and another 23 percent delayed care for more than a year for the same reason.

Meanwhile, 10 percent of Americans with children under the age of 18 have delayed care for a dependent or child because of financial issues.

The three types of care that are delayed most: dental work, eyecare and annual exams. Of those who have delayed care in the past 12 months, 55 percent put off dental and/or orthodontic work, 43 put off delayed eyecare, and 30 percent put off annual exams.

While, “if you’re healthy, delaying, or even skipping, your annual physical may not be a big deal,” says Earnin, “delaying dental care can be especially costly.” In 2017, according to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, emergency room dental visits cost $1.9 billion.

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