Health
Despite insurance, people skip doctor visits due to cost
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By KAREN HOPPER USHER
Capital News Service
LANSING — More Michiganders have health insurance but still skip doctor visits and blame it on cost. In 2015, nearly 13 percent of Michiganders said they hadn’t been to the doctor in the past 12 months because of the cost, according to the Department of Health and Human Services, which conducts the Michigan Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System every year. That’s too many, said Robert Jackson, president of the Michigan Academy of Family Physicians. “The whole thing is disturbing,” he said, because more visits to a primary care physician lead to lower costs and better health in the long run. Most e people who skip doctor visits because of cost have no health insurance (30 percent) or are on the Healthy Michigan plan (27.9 percent), according to statistics provided by Jennifer Eisner, a public information officer at the department.