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Volume 12 Number 232 News: Access ATLANTA, GA - More than 40 million U.S. adults say they do not have adequate access to the health care they need, and did not receive some services in the past year because they could not afford them, the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control said Dec. 3 in its annual report on the nation's health. 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 public health agency said in a press release. According to the report, nearly 20 percent of American adults said they did not receive medical care, prescription drugs, mental health care, dental care, or eyeglasses because they could not afford them. "There has been important progress made in many areas of health care, 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," CDC Director Julie Gerberding said. A major finding of the report is that young adults age 18-24 were more likely than children or older adults to lack a usual source of care and to be uninsured. About 30 percent of this group did not have a usual source of health care and the same percentage was uninsured, CDC said. The complete report is available.
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