More North Carolina residents are skipping visits to the doctor and dentist as the recession rages on.
An annual survey done in April and May for Blue Cross and Blue Shield, the state's largest health insurer, showed that 36 percent of residents were buying fewer prescription medicines and 31 percent were refilling prescriptions less quickly.
About 18 percent weren't doing to the dentist, 17 percent were not seeking regular physical exams and 15 percent were avoiding medical tests or procedures.
“The recession and rising health care costs are having an impact on preventive health services – the very services that can help detect or prevent more serious and costly health problems down the road,” said Blue Cross chief medical officer Don Bradley, in a prepared statement. “But there’s never a good time to skip preventive health and healthy living.”
As expected, the 12 percent of respondents without insurance were cutting back the most. Of those, nearly half were postponing health screenings and operations, compared with 13 percent of those with coverage. And 43 percent of the uninsured were not getting physicals, compared with 13 percent with insurance.
About 1.8 million people in North Carolina have no health insurance, according to the N.C. Institute of Medicine. That total is expected to rise as the state unemployment rate remains high.
There were an economic bright spot in the Blue Cross report: 67 percent said they're buying cheaper generic drugs instead of brand name medicines.
The telephone survey of 501 people was conducted in April and May by W5, a Durham-based research firm. The survey results have a margin of error of +/- 4 percentage points.
See the full report here.
Assistant Business Editor Alan M. Wolf joined the N&O in 1999 covering the business of health care. He became an editor in 2001, and helps oversee the paper's daily business coverage and Sunday Work&Money section. He lives in Clayton with his wife and two children. Reach him at 919-829-4572 or 
