In U.S., income levels too often reveal how people feel about their health and access to care [CenterForHealthJournalism.org]

In the June issue of the journal Health Affairs, my colleagues and I published research showing that in 2012, just prior to the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, the United States had among the widest income-based disparities in people’s perceptions of their own health and health care among a global sample of 32 countries.

Compared to people in the top third, those in the bottom third of household income in the U.S. tended to rate their health worse, forgo care they felt they needed because of cost, are less satisfied with their medical care, and feel less secure about getting their health care needs met in the future. The other countries that consistently did as poorly in disparities as the U.S. along these dimensions were middle income-countries, such as Chile, Bulgaria, and the Philippines, where access to health care is often not universal.

[For more of this story, written by Joachim Hero, go to https://www.centerforhealthjou...ir-health-and-access]