One-Third of Uninsured Are Chronically Ill

Aug. 5 -- MONDAY, Aug. 4 (HealthDay News) -- One out of every three working-age, uninsured Americans suffers from a chronic illness and isn't getting the medical care they need, a new report shows.

Although the study didn't specifically look at the health consequences of lack of insurance and lack of access to medical care, it's reasonable to assume that these factors would lead to various medical complications, said the authors of a study published in the Aug. 5 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.

"This is something that is very true in my clinical experience," said Dr. Andrew Wilper, instructor in medicine at the University of Washington in Seattle. "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." Wilper was a fellow in general internal medicine at Harvard Medical School while conducting the study.

Another expert agreed that a lack of insurance along with chronic illness can be a potentially lethal combination.

"These people are going to end up with complications of their illnesses prematurely. They will be disabled early. They will probably die younger. It is a major public health disaster," said Dr. Oliver Fein, president-elect of Physicians for a National Health Program and professor of clinical medicine and public health at Weill Cornell Medical College of Cornell University in New York City. "Longer-term, there will be expensive admissions to hospitals, usually through the emergency department, due to diabetes out of control and congestive heart failure because of hypertension."

Information on the number of Americans without health insurance (about 47 million in 2006, up from 31 million in 1987) is plentiful. Less clear has been how many of these individuals suffer from chronic medical conditions, although some, including policymakers, have suggested that many are healthy.

Using data from interviews with almost 12,500 people aged 18 to 64 who had participated in the National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey (NHANES), the authors conclude that an estimated 11.4 million working-age Americans with at least one of seven chronic medical conditions do not have health insurance.