A national survey led by Washington University in St. Louis shows most Missourians are happy with their personal health care but deeply concerned about the system overall.
Dr. Margaret Kruk is professor of Health Systems and Medicine at WashU’s School of Medicine and the School of Public Health.
She told Missourinet that a vast majority of Missourians surveyed said they have a regular source of care.
“So that’s a doctor or clinic they can go to that knows them. That was very common,” Kruk said. “Almost all Missourians have that, 90%, and that’s higher than the average for the United States, which is about 83%.”
But the survey also showed that most Missourians surveyed rated their own health worse than that of the average American, including chronic illness and mental health:
“On the other hand, we found some positive signs as well,” Kruk said. “The population seems more activated; more sort of empowered to take charge of their health.”
Still, one of the main concerns is how expensive healthcare is in the United States, and in Missouri.
“About 20%, so one in five Missourians reported that they had to either borrow money or sell assets to afford healthcare in the past year and that compares to 15% nationally,” Kruk said. “So here we do see that Missourians are struggling more.”
The survey also found that only 57 percent of Missourians felt confident they could both receive and pay for healthcare if they got sick tomorrow — below the national average.
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