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Many Americans are postponing health care during the pandemic; here is what’s being postponed and why

It’s been over a year since Covid-19 broke out and shifted everything in the world as we know it and, still, even the most basic health concerns continue to be prorogued due to the pandemic.

From basic health care such as routine dental checkups to complex health concerns such as cancer screenings and surgeries, the pandemic has caused many individuals to forgo health care.

As one article published by Time put it: “There’s more than one way to get sick during the COVID-19 pandemic. You can contract the virus, of course, as more than 28 million Americans already have. Or you can dodge the disease but still suffer from the disruption caused by quarantines and social distancing if they lead you to neglect routine health care.”

What we’re seeing is that out of 1,093 participants, 78 percent of respondents from the recent TIME-Harris Poll survey reported that they have put off at least some medical services during the past three months of the pandemic. Here are several reasons why:

• The World Health Organization (WHO) is recommending postponed health visits for certain industries

• Demographics such as race, ethnicity, and economic status play significant roles

• Health care coverage is not as comprehensive as it should be
• A side effect of the Covid vaccine could create false positives in certain routine checkups

Americans continued seeking the care they couldn’t avoid — hospital admissions for childbirth, for example, held steady — but skipped care they could put off. More invasive preventive procedures, such as mammograms and colonoscopies, showed the greatest decline. Let’s consider in depth some reasons why so many Americans are postponing health care, whether it’s a routine appointment or a more complex visit.[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”20px”][vc_column_text]

The World Health Organization (WHO) is recommending postponed health visits for certain industries

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To start things off, the World Health Organization (WHO) is recommending routine dental visits be postponed until COVID-19 is under control to help protect dentists and their patients.

In an article published on The Hill website, the WHO said that dentists specifically involve face-to-face communication and frequent exposure to saliva, blood, and other body fluids and handling sharp instruments.

Regarding surgeries, people are choosing to postpone their surgical needs due to COVID. They cite health and safety reasons and avoiding risking exposure to COVID as reasons to postpone surgical treatment. Meanwhile, their surgical problems only get worse.

Cancer mortality rates have been falling in recent years, but COVID-19 could reverse this trend. According to the director of the National Cancer Institute, we may see as many as 10,000 additional deaths from breast and colorectal cancer alone over the next decade because people failed to get screened and therefore treated for it during the pandemic.[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”20px”][vc_column_text]

Demographics such as race, ethnicity, and financial status play significant roles

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As with so many things, race and ethnicity play a significant role as well, with communities of color suffering more — often lacking health insurance and working in lower income jobs.

Structural disadvantages that made health care harder to access pre-pandemic would only be exacerbated when lockdowns and economic hardship set in. It’s also noted that even among low-income Medicaid recipients, there are up-front costs for health care, which may simply not be affordable in the COVID-19 economy.

Additionally, as the pandemic caused staggering unemployment, medical care has become unaffordable for many. There is ample evidence to believe that medical bills can be a powerful deterrent to receiving health care.

At first, people might have put off getting medical care out of concern about the coronavirus. But when unemployment becomes an issue, postponing medical care isn’t just about getting sick or not.

While hospitals and doctors across the country say many patients are still shunning their services out of fear of contagion — especially with new cases spiking — Americans who lost their jobs or have a significant drop in income during the pandemic are now citing costs as the overriding reason they do not seek the health care they need.

In an article published by NY Times citing that people are avoiding the doctor (and it’s not because of the virus), financial pressure is driving people to decide between putting food on the table against their need for care.[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”20px”][vc_column_text]

Health care coverage is not as comprehensive as it should be

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While some of those who are unemployed qualify for coverage under the Affordable Care Act, they may fall in the coverage gap where they do not receive subsidies to help them afford coverage.

“Americans are really very aware that their health care coverage is not as comprehensive as it should be, and it’s gotten worse over the past decade,” said Elisabeth Benjamin, a vice president at Community Service Society of New York. After the last recession, they learned to forgo care rather than incur bills they can’t pay.

This could go hand-in-hand with the previous point of financial status determining whether people postpone or ultimately forgo their healthcare or not.

Some individuals are holding off on getting follow-up testing because they do not want to end up with more medical bills if their health plan will not cover all of the care they need.

For more insight on the NY Times’ article on postponed health care, visit here.[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”20px”][vc_column_text]

A side effect of the Covid vaccine could create false positives in certain routine checkups

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A prominent Utah doctor has been warning women who get the Covid vaccine to wait at least a month before getting a routine mammogram. Apparently, a side effect of the vaccine mimics a condition often seen in cancer diagnoses.

Dr. Brett Parkinson, medical director of Intermountain Healthcare’s Breast Care Center, said the center’s doctors, as well as physicians across the nation, have noticed that some people who get the COVID-19 vaccine have had the side effect of swollen lymph nodes in the axilla, or the armpit area.

In itself, such swelling isn’t serious, and it usually subsides within four weeks. However, when such swelling in the lymph nodes in the armpit shows up during a routine mammogram, Parkinson said, a doctor likely would call a patient back in for a more detailed examination.

Such swelling, he said, can be a sign of metastatic breast cancer — a cancer that has spread beyond the breast — or lymphoma or leukemia. Or such swelling could be a patient’s body mounting an immune response to the virus… which is a good thing.

The side effect shows up in 11 percent of patients after the first dose of the Moderna version of the COVID-19 vaccine, and 16 percent of the time after the second dose, Parkinson said. He added that experts expect similar findings with patients who get the Pfizer version.

As a result, mammogram patients should delay getting a mammogram until four weeks after getting their last dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

The article about how mammograms are affected/postponed by the virus could be viewed here.[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”20px”][vc_column_text]

How to prepare for the health care needs of Americans now and in the future

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When the pandemic first hit the U.S., patients were asked to stay home and postpone routine medical care. While it is completely understandable that some people may be worried about returning to a healthcare setting, postponing recommended preventive health measures may be far more dangerous.

Doctors have already seen the impact of delaying care. During the height of the pandemic, people who had heart attacks and serious fractures avoided the emergency room. The results?

“It was as if they disappeared, but they didn’t disappear,” said Dr. Jack Choueka, the chair of orthopedics. “People were dying in home; they just weren’t coming into the hospital.”

People have begun to return to the medical scene, but with conditions worsened because of the time they had avoided care.

The truth is that most medical settings, including hospitals and clinics, have resumed routine business and have processes in place to protect patients’ safety, including making face coverings mandatory and stationing healthcare personnel at entrances to screen for symptoms of COVID-19.

With such precautions in place, people should feel more comfortable adhering to their recommended health care schedules. Many individuals are also relying on telemedicine appointments to reduce the risk of infection.

For more serious health care needs such as surgeries, health authorities and insurance companies often suspend elective surgery during a pandemic spike. In the current scenario, we see no immediate end to the pandemic in sight. Countries should now be better prepared for pandemic spikes with manpower, bed space, and health supplies and resort less to suspending insurances or elective surgery.

While it is not ideal to go into a hospital or surgical center during a global pandemic, there are plenty of ways to stay safe.

Most surgeries are performed far away from anyone who may have contracted COVID-19. Many hospitals catering to elective surgery declare themselves Covid-free. Most operating theaters require a Covid test before a patient is taken up for surgery. Healthcare workers are among the first to be vaccinated in any country. Additionally, operating theaters are taking extra precautions to keep patients safe apart from regular Covid safe protocols.

For more information about a globally trained surgeon’s professional perspective on why surgeries shouldn’t wait until after Covid, read here.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]