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Financial worries delay heart treatment

People who are uninsured or have concerns about the cost of medical care are more likely to postpone seeking emergency care for a heart attack.

Financial worries delay heart treatment

People who are uninsured or have concerns about the cost of medical care are more likely to postpone seeking emergency care for a heart attack.

Little is known about how health insurance or financial status affects decisions to seek care during emergency medical conditions such as heart attack. To investigate this, researchers in the United States examined data from a registry of 3,721 people who had heart attacks and were admitted to one of 24 U.S. hospitals between April 2005 and December 2008. Using information from medical records to determine insurance status and interviews to assess financial concerns, researchers classified people into three groups - insured without financial concerns, insured but with financial concerns about accessing care, or uninsured.

Nearly two-fifths of the people in the study were either uninsured (20 percent) or had financial concerns about accessing care (19 percent). Among those with insurance who had financial concerns, 80 percent said they avoided medical care, 55 percent avoided taking medications and 10 percent reported having trouble obtaining health-care services because of costs. Delays in arriving at the hospital of six or more hours were more prevalent among the uninsured (50 percent) and people who were insured but also had money worries (45 percent) than among the insured who had no financial concerns (40 percent). Likewise, a greater proportion of insured patients without money worries (35 percent) arrived at the hospital within two hours of symptom onset than did the insured with financial concerns (33 percent) and uninsured patients (27 percent).

It was concluded that lack of health insurance and financial concerns about accessing care among those with health insurance were each associated with delays in seeking emergency care for a heart attack.
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