INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The economy has made consumers more cautious about health care spending and forced some to reduce it considerably, according to a Deloitte Center for Health Solutions survey.
The research firm, based in Washington, D.C., reported that 75 percent of 4,000 U.S. consumers it surveyed randomly in April said the recent economic slowdown has affected their health care spending. A total of 41 percent said they are being more cautious about it, 20 percent cut back on spending, and 13 percent said their cutbacks are considerable.
Deloitte surveyed both insured and uninsured people. It found that 48 percent of those without insurance said they cut health care spending considerably, compared with 8 percent of people with insurance.
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Lower-than-expected growth in health care use has been cited frequently as a factor behind recent strong performances from health insurers. The five largest insurers — a group that includes UnitedHealth Group Inc., WellPoint Inc. and Aetna Inc. — all reported better-than-expected profits in the first three months of 2011.
Analysts have said they thought the economy influenced use of health care, but they weren't certain about the extent. They say people worried about losing their jobs tend to get more care than normal when a recession starts because they want to use their employer-sponsored health insurance while they still have it.
Utilization growth then slows after a recession ends because consumers remain budget-conscious. That means they put off elective procedures like hip or knee replacements.
The study, which involved people across the country, also found that 76 percent of those surveyed felt they did not have a strong understanding for how the health care system works. That was similar to the 77 percent reported in Deloitte's 2010 survey and 74 percent from the 2009 survey.
Deloitte also surveyed people in 11 other countries. The health care systems in Luxembourg, Belgium, Switzerland, France and Canada received grades of "A" or "B" from more than half of the consumers surveyed in those countries.
In the U.S., only 22 percent of consumers gave their system the same grades.
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