Kaiser Family Foundation: Patients hold off medical care due to cost

MENLO PARK, Calif. A health tracking poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation released Thursday finds that the recession has forced a majority of respondents to put off medical care due to the cost.

The nationwide telephone poll of more than 1,000 adults found that 42% of respondents substituted home remedies or OTC drugs for doctor visits, while 36% skipped dental care or checkups, 29% didn’t fill prescriptions and 18% cut pills in half or skipped doses.

A large majority of respondents, 59%, said healthcare reform is more important than ever, while 37% said it was unaffordable because of economic problems.

“Our polls suggest strong support for health reform, but the public can be swayed on the key details,” Kaiser president and CEO Drew Altman said. “There is still a tremendous opportunity for leadership, but also for interest groups to define the direction of the health reform debate.”

To pay for healthcare reform, 71% supported increasing taxes on families making more than $250,000 per year, but 28% supported increasing income taxes across the board. At the same time, 61% favored “sin” taxes on items such as alcohol, cigarettes, soda and junk food. Slightly more than half, 52%, opposed taxing money that employers put toward the most generous health benefits, and 62% those who have employer-sponsored health insurance opposed the idea.

Responses did, however, depend on political affiliation. More than 80% of Democrats and 60% of independents strongly or somewhat favored having a public health plan, compared to 49% of Republicans.

The foundation randomly contacted 1,203 adults aged 18 and older by phone and conducted the poll in English and Spanish. The poll had a margin error of plus or minus three percentage points.