Economy forcing consumers to make risky health tradeoffs: report
In times of economic dread, it’s no stretch that we’d compromise.
We’d compromise our wardrobes (when consumers stopped buying $300 premium jeans, for instance), we’d compromise our leisure time (when we had to kick pay porn out of the rotation) and we’d compromise our private jetting (when rich people had to, ick, learn to “jetpool”).
But one thing we wouldn’t compromise, darnit, was ourselves. Our health, above all, would be immune to the recession.
Make that “should.” According to a new poll from Consumer Reports, that’s just what we’ve been doing: stretching our health care dollars and making risky tradeoffs.
By the survey out of the U.S. (yes, we’ll address that in a second), nearly half of consumers (48 per cent) admitted to trimming costs in 2011 by putting off a doctor’s visit or medical procedure, or even ordering cheaper drugs from out-of-country pharmacies, an increase of nine percentage points from a year earlier.
*Bing: Can online pharmacies be trusted?
Further, 28 per cent of Americans that take medication have been resorting to, in the verbiage of Consumers Reports, “potentially dangerous actions.” For instance, 16 per cent said they had skipped filling a prescription, 13 per cent said they took an expired medication and 12 per cent skipped a schedule dosage without consulting their doctor or pharmacist.
Now, sure, this is an American poll, and even with Obamacare, health care – and associated health care costs – are different south of the border.
But in many regards, Canadian health care isn’t quite the oasis we make it out to be. Canucks are lucky they don’t have to sacrifice a doctor’s appointment or medical operation because of cash concerns, but where does that leave us on prescription drugs?
For those Canadians without employer-provided health insurance, guess who’s on the hook for pills: them. It stands to reason plenty of Canadians have likely skipped, or skimped on, prescription drugs as the economy’s tanked. Same goes, we’d imagine, for scheduled dental appointments.
Have you compromised your health care needs during the downturn, whether they be prescription drugs, dentist appointments or otherwise?
By Jason Buckland, MSN Money
Posted by: Steve | Sep 27, 2021 6:42:54 PM
No one wants any of that 'commie' socialized medicine europe has. Do they?
Posted by: Dr. J. Lindon | Sep 27, 2021 10:00:27 PM
I have all of my medical expenses covered by my company's plan. However, I have taken it upon myself to reduce or completely stop my medications. Again, the reasons have nothing to do with cost or the ecomomy. It does not matter to me whether my monthly prescription drugs cost $100 or $1,000, they are all paid for. My reasons are for my well being. It seems that over the years my doctors (I have several) have been prescribing all these medications for blood pressure, cholestrol, etc. The side effects from these have resulted in more and more medications to be prescribed. I came to the point where the simple act of putting on a shirt in the morning was impossible, due to severe pain. On my own initiative, I stopped taking these medications. I have never felt better. My blood pressure dropped to lower levels (without the medication) and I can now dress myself without severe pain. I am now also able to exercise, which I could not do before because of excruciating pain. Anyways, I may be a bit off topic here, but nevertheless, I am tried of trusting my health to these North American doctors that seem to think that popping pills is the solution to all health problems. BTW, I am not a medical doctor, but a doctor of science.
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