Rising Number of Uninsured Tops Health News for 2006

Worries about food safety, antidepressants and stents also made headlines.

By E.J. Mundell
HealthDay Reporter
Friday, December 29, 2006; 12:00 AM

Copyright © 2006 ScoutNews, LLC. All rights reserved.

FRIDAY, Dec. 29 (HealthDay News) -- The top health story for 2006 focused on a fundamental issue: how to pay for medical care.

A study published in December found that nearly one in six Americans -- 50 million people -- now spend more than 10 percent of their income on medical expenses. That's an increase of nearly 10 million people struggling to pay their medical bills, compared with a decade ago.

And while uninsured or underinsured Americans used to live in predominantly poorer households, "the level of risk is creeping up the income scale," said Carol Pryor, senior policy analyst at the health-care advocacy group The Access Project in Boston. "The problem is becoming an issue for more and more people."

Another poll, released in October, found 25 percent of Americans admitting they were hard-pressed to pay for health care in 2006. And 60 percent of people with health insurance said they are worried about their ability to cover expenses in the future.

Drug coverage may have gotten a bit easier for older Americans, however. After a bumpy start -- including confusing private-plan choices, Medicaid recipients getting temporarily locked out of plans, and the "donut hole" gap in coverage -- Medicare Part D has met with approval from most users. A recent Kaiser Family Foundation poll found 76 percent of enrollees agreeing that their experience with Part D has been "positive."

Other top health news for 2006, as determined by HealthDay editors:

Tainted-Food Scares Rattle Public. Grocery items as innocuous as spinach, tomatoes and iceberg lettuce had the nation on edge in 2006, as hundreds of consumers were sickened with food-borne illnesses, prompting calls for tighter controls on food safety.

In September, an outbreak of E.coli 0157:H7 illness that killed three and sickened nearly 200 people in 26 states and Canada was traced to contaminated spinach grown in California. Also in September, salmonella-tainted tomatoes caused serious illness in 183 people in 21 states and Canada.

Finally, after an exhaustive investigation, federal experts traced another E.coli outbreak to iceberg lettuce used in Taco Bell restaurants across the Northeast. That outbreak sickened more than 70 people in five northeastern states in early December.