A health care income gap, between people who can afford care and those who can’t, is growing as costs rise and incomes largely remain level. Holly Fletcher/The Tennessean
The Tennesseean, August 15, 2016
By Holly Fletcher
A health care income gap, between people who can afford care and those who can’t, is growing as costs rise and incomes largely remain level. Holly Fletcher/The Tennessean
An explosion of new drugs, medical apps and an ever-expanding array of ways to get treatment are reinventing how people consume health care. Yet those who would most benefit from the latest technology simply can’t afford it.
And, across Tennessee and the country, the gap between these two groups has only widened in recent years, experts said.
“What that tells me, and the overall gist of our findings, is health care is becoming more and more of a regular commodity. If I can’t afford a fancy steak then I’m not going to buy a fancy steak — but I can get by without that,” said Dr. Samuel Dickman, lead author of a recent study. “Do we as a society want to treat health care like a fancy steak? I don’t know. I don’t know but that’s the direction we’re going.”
