Nearly one in five U.S.
adults – more than 40 million people – report they do not have adequate
access to the health care they need, according to the annual report on
the nation’s health released today by the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (CDC).
The report, "Health,
United States, 2007," is a compilation of more than 150 health tables
prepared by CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics.
The report also contains
a special section focusing on access to care, which shows that nearly 20
percent of adults reported that they needed and did not receive one or more
of these services in the past year – medical care, prescription medicines,
mental health care, dental care, or eyeglasses – because they could not
afford them.
"There has been important
progress made in many areas of health such as increased life expectancy and
decreases in deaths from leading killers such as heart disease and cancer.
But this report shows that access to health care is still an issue where we
need improvement," said CDC Director Julie Gerberding, M.D., M.P.H.
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