Access to medical care has deteriorated sharply among people living in the United States, a survey has found. The proportion of people who report delaying medical care or not getting it at all rose from 14% in 2003 to more than 20% in 2007. Perhaps surprisingly, the decline in access was greater among people with health insurance than among those without it.

The findings are part of the 2007 health tracking household survey, a representative, cross section survey of 18 000 persons interviewed by phone. It was conducted by the Center for Health System Change and released at a news conference in Washington, DC, on 26 June.

Extrapolating from the data suggests that the number of …