Americans are seeing doctors less frequently, according to the latest data from the Census Bureau that looked at the country in 2010.
"The decline in the use of medical services was widespread, taking place regardless of health status," Brett O'Hara, chief of the Census Bureau's Health and Disability Statistics Branch, said in a statement yesterday.
Sixty-six percent of people reported being in very good or excellent health and another quarter (24 percent) were in good health, while 8 percent were in fair health. Two percent described themselves as being in poor health.
Most people don't stay overnight at a hospital, with about 92 percent of the population having never spent a night at the hospital in the past year.
"Spending a night in a hospital is a rare event," the Census Bureau noted.
And only about 1 percent spent eight or more nights.
|
|
|
Health status of adults |
||||
|
Excellent |
Very good |
Good |
Fair |
Poor |
||
|
Nights in hospital |
Total % |
|
||||
|
0 |
91.2% |
96.4% |
94.9% |
90.7% |
77.4% |
59.5% |
|
1–7 |
7% |
3.3% |
4.7% |
7.8% |
16.3% |
24.6% |
|
8 – 30 |
1.4% |
0.2% |
0.3% |
1.2% |
5.1% |
12.0% |
|
31+ |
0.4% |
0.1% |
0.1% |
0.3% |
1.3% |
3.8% |
Out of the few who did stay at the hospital overnight, those patients were more likely to be in poor health, as expected.
Among uninsured adults who did visit a medical provider, 13 percent visited an emergency room and 10 percent visited a hospital.
According to a recent Washington Post article, patients avoiding expensive hospital stays instead are using outpatient services more often for their medical needs.
For more information:
- see the Census Bureau statement and the report (.pdf)
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