Nation's Economic Downturn Threatens Continuity of Care for Chronic ...( DMAA Members Report Some Payers S...),Health

DMAA Members Report Some Payers Scaling Back Chronic Disease Initiatives

WASHINGTON, Oct. 20 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- DMAA: The Care Continuum Alliance, responding to reports that many Americans are forgoing basic medical care in the economic downturn, today called for renewed vigilance in the fight against chronic disease and support for care management.

"While some forms of belt-tightening make sense in tough economic times --dining out less often or carpooling, for example -- we can't afford to extend cost-cutting to medical care, especially for people with chronic conditions," DMAA President and CEO Tracey Moorhead says. "As the cost and prevalence of chronic diseases threaten to overrun our health care system, now is the time to increase our commitment to the chronically ill and those at risk, not cut back."

Recent surveys and reports paint a troubling picture of the response by many Americans to the nation's economic woes:

-- Twenty-two percent of U.S. consumers have put off physician visits and

11 percent have delayed refilling prescriptions or taken smaller doses

than prescribed, a National Association of Insurance Commissioners

survey found.

-- In a CIGNA survey, 35 percent of respondents said they avoided regular

physician visits and 17 percent took medications less often or not at

all. Ten percent said they can't afford to eat properly or eat less

healthful foods.

-- The Rockefeller Foundation and Time magazine reported that 10 percent of

respondents did not take a child to the doctor due to economic

pressures.

Further, DMAA member organizations report that, as the economy weakens, some payers -- including some state Medicaid programs -- are pulling back from plans to institute population-based programs for the chronically ill, such as wellness and disease management initiatives.

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