Understanding high-need adults with complex conditions and their
barriers to care are key to developing solutions that improve health and
control costs. High-need adults have at least two chronic diseases and a
functional limitation in their ability to care for themselves or perform
routine daily tasks. A new report
from the Commonwealth Fund outlines in depth the number of high-need adults
and their challenges across states. Ten percent of adults in CT have high
medical needs, just below the US average of 12%. High-need adults tend to be
older and over one in three in CT has income below 200% of the Federal Poverty
Level. In good news, only 7% are uninsured, compared to 9% of all CT adults,
and 94% have a usual source of care. Unfortunately high need adults in CT are more
to have gone without or delayed needed care due to cost. Almost one in three
(31%) went without a provider visit because of cost and 15% went without a
prescription due to cost. Ot those who
delayed care for reasons other than cost, 40% were due to transportation
problems and 24% could not get a timely appointment for care.
