Medical Treatment and Health Care Access
Arthritis and Indiana:
Our State's Burden
Prompt health care seeking is especially important with inflammatory arthritis since early diagnosis and proper treatment can stop or slow joint damage.
Of BRFSS 2005 respondents with physician-diagnosed arthritis, 88% reported they had seen a doctor or other health professional at least once for joint symptoms, and 88.9 % had health insurance coverage (84.2% of all respondents reported health care coverage).
Almost 75% of hospitalization is for osteoarthritis; most of these were for hip or knee replacement (see figure 25).
Figure 25
Hospital Discharge by Arthritis Procedure (ISDH Hospital Discharge Data 2005)
 |
More than 60 percent of the hospital charges for arthritis procedures were to Medicare and Medicaid. Thirty-five percent were charged to private insurance (see Figure 26).
Figure 26
Hospital Discharge by Payer (ISDH Hospital Discharge Data, 2005)
 |
Osteoarthritis ranks among the top ten most expensive conditions in the US to Medicare, private insurance, and overall (see Table 3).18
Table 3
Osteoarthritis Hospital Ranking by Payer (HCUP, 2005)
|
Type |
Rank |
Cost |
percent |
|
Medicare |
5th |
$12 Billon |
3.5 |
|
Private Insurance |
6th |
$7 Billon |
3.0 |
|
Most Expensive Overall |
8th |
$21 billion |
2.8% |
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18 Russo, C. A. and Andrews, R. M. The National Hospital Bill: The Most Expensive Conditions, by Payer, 2004. HCUP Statistical Brief #13. September 2006. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, Md. http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/reports/statbriefs/sb13.pdf.
