Strange to think of health care as a discretionary expense1, but some aspects are I suppose,especially in our current system.
As the credit crunch threatens to throw the economy into a deep slump, Americans are already cutting back on health care, a sector once thought to be invulnerable to recession. Spending on everything from doctors’ appointments to preventive tests to prescription drugs is under pressure.
The number of prescriptions filled in the U.S. fell 0.5% in the first quarter and a steeper 1.97% in the second, compared with the same periods in 2007 — the first negative quarters in at least a decade, according to data from market researcher IMS Health. Despite an aging and growing U.S. population, the number of physician office visits also has been declining since the end of 2006. Between July 2007 and 2008, the most recent month for which data are available, visits fell 1.2%, according to IMS.
As consumers cut back, spending on everything from doctors’ appointments to preventive tests to prescription drugs is under pressure.
In a survey by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners last month, 22% of 686 consumers said that economy-related woes were causing them to go to the doctor less often. About 11% said they’ve scaled back on prescription drugs to save money. Some of the areas being hit include hip and knee replacements, mammograms, and visits to the emergency room, according to a survey conducted by D2Hawkeye Inc., a Waltham, Mass., medical data analytics firm, on behalf of The Wall Street Journal.Since sales at the Sebring, Fla.-area car dealership where Christopher Pye works have dwindled, so have the commissions that were 40% of his income in good times. Barely able to afford his $850 monthly mortgage and pay for groceries, he says something had to give: his two young sons’ annual medical checkups.
[From Consumers Cut Health Spending, As Economic Downturn Takes Toll – WSJ.com]
Annual medical checkups are frivolous? Really? Too bad the government couldn’t purchase any healthcare insurance companies while they are bailing out corporations with faulty fundamentals…
Footnotes:- discretionary expenses like clothing, music, restaurants I understand, but health care? [↩]