The study, conducted on 411 patients in Massachusetts between June 2012 and October 2013, found that 39.1 percent of the subjects had problems paying for food, housing or other necessities. They also found poor diabetic control among 46 percent of the patients.
These insecurities were linked to poor control of the patient’s diabetes with 64 percent of subjects without a reliable food supply having uncontrolled diabetes while only 42 percent of subjects that had food security had uncontrolled diabetes. This included those who had also used a blood sugar monitor to precisely track glucose levels.
“What we found is that food and medication are a big deal and probably account for the bulk of it, but it doesn’t look like there is any one thing,” said the study’s lead researcher, Dr. Seth Berkowitz of Boston’s Massachusetts General Hospital to Reuters.
The study found that even though most of the participants had insurance, 28 percent reported not taking diabetes medication because they could not afford the drugs. Approximately 14 percent could not pay utility bills, 20 percent did not have reliable access to food and 11 percent did not have a stable housing situation.
These insecurities were linked to poor control of the patient’s diabetes with 64 percent of subjects without a reliable food supply having uncontrolled diabetes while only 42 percent of subjects that had food security had uncontrolled diabetes.
While insecurities in housing and energy were not tied to less diabetes control, the study found that the more insecurities that people had, the greater their odds were to have poor control of their diabetes.
The current national healthcare plan, or Obamacare, is based on Massachusetts’s healthcare.
“I think it lets us know that even if we – nationwide – achieve the rate of insurance coverage in Massachusetts, these problems will still likely exist,” said Dr. Berkowitz. “I think what we’re looking at in Massachusetts is where the rest of the country will be in a few years. You have people who are seeking care and seeing what they have, but . . . you’re just not getting people what they need to stay healthy.”
The researcher’s findings were published in the JAMA Internal Medicine journal.
