The Hill conducted an analysis that looked at 50 years of healthcare use and expenditure data.
Here are five points:
1. In the 1960s, the wealthy received nearly double the amount of care as the poor.
2. However, the tides turned and the poor received 17 percent more care than the wealthy in 1977.
3. From 2004 to 2014, the wealthy were receiving 43 percent more care than the poor, after The Hill adjusted for age and health difference.
4. Primary care physicians Steffie Woolhandler, MD, and David U. Himmelstein, MD, attributed the stark difference to escalating copays and deductibles which leave many Americans forgoing services.
5. In the past 10 years, employed-sponsored health plans’ deductibles have increased 255 percent, on average.
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