Nov. 17--When Lori Seeger lost her state job last year, a worry raced through her head: How would she live without health insurance?

She takes two prescription drugs a day to help manage a sinus condition. Without her inhalers, she'd have trouble breathing and get sick more often.

The medicines cost about $100 a month, and she couldn't afford that on unemployment.

The 44-year-old West Side resident asked her doctor for samples. To make the medicine last, she took one-quarter of her recommended dose. She also skipped her annual mammogram and Pap smear.

The cost of health care is taking a toll in the bad economy.

Of the 1,200 Americans surveyed by the Kaiser Family Foundation last month, 47 percent said costs had caused them to postpone treatment, skip a medical test, not fill a prescription, cut pills or skip doses, or that they had trouble getting mental-health care.

This is up from 42 percent in an April survey by the Kaiser foundation, a nonprofit group in Washington, D.C.

"Health care is now every bit as much an economic issue for the American people as job insecurity, mortgage payments and credit-card debt," said Drew Altman, Kaiser chief executive.

Seeger found a new job in May at Asebrook & Co., a Columbus architectural firm.

But she had taken a chance during her unemployment: People can continue their work-sponsored health coverage through the so-called COBRA program, but Seeger opted not to buy it after being laid off because the premiums would have taken half of her monthly unemployment check.





"I knew that when I went back to work, I would get insurance, but I was terrified I would get sick," said Seeger, an architect.

Dr. Stephanie Benedict often deals with people who put off care. Some of her patients at Pickerington Family Practice have skipped appointments and screenings, or put off medical tests because they couldn't afford co-payments until they got paid.

She said the biggest problem has been with medications: Patients don't fill prescriptions, they cut pills or they take their drugs only when they feel bad. She works to find a generic or a medication that their insurance will help pay for and they can afford.

"I just sit down and tell them, 'We just have to make choices,' " said Benedict, who specializes in family medicine. "Sometimes it's the patient who smokes two packs of cigarettes a day but can't afford their medication."

Some people can barely make ends meet with high food and energy costs, and then they fear a big medical bill, even with insurance, health advocates say.

"As other financial issues are being dealt with, sometimes health slides down that priority scale," said Jeff Biehl, executive director of Access HealthColumbus.

But delaying care might be more expensive if people end up in an emergency department, where care is more costly.

"This is no longer an issue of the uninsured; it's also an issue for the underinsured," he said. "With the cost-shifting going on, even people with employer-based coverage aren't prepared to cover the additional liability."

shoholik@dispatch.com

"As other financial

issues are being dealt with, sometimes health slides down that priority scale."

Jeff Biehl

Access HealthColumbus



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