Even if they're insured, many heart patients don't get adequate follow-up care, according to research published yesterday in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The research, which followed 2,498 patients recovering from heart attacks, found that one in five patients felt they couldn't afford follow-up care, and one in eight didn't buy medicine due to the cost. The kicker: more than two-thirds of the patients who reported being worried about expenses actually had health insurance. Not surprisingly, patients who reported having trouble paying for post heart-attack treatments were 30 percent more likely to be rehospitalized. Worse, 50 percent of those who couldn't afford their meds were more likely to end up in the hospital again.
To find out more about this research:
- read this article in The Boston Globe