Medicaid, Medicare and other government-run health plans, such as military health plans, might be doing better than private health carriers at helping enrollees control high blood pressure and high cholesterol.
A team led by researchers at the National Center for Health Statistics has published data supporting that idea in a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study comparing high blood pressure and high cholesterol care indicators for U.S. adults ages 20 to 64 with private health coverage, 
public coverage and no coverage.
The researchers analyzed national health survey results gathered from 2005 to 2008 and found that nonelderly adults with high blood pressure or high cholesterol were much more likely to go undiagnosed if they lacked health coverage.
For high blood pressure, the undiagnosed rate was about 40% for the uninsured and about 20% for people with public or private health coverage. For high cholesterol, the undiagnosed rate was 48% for the insured, 27% for people with private health coverage, and 25% for people with public health coverage.
Nonelderly adults with private health coverage were more likely than other adults to have had a cholesterol test in the previous five years: The screening rate was 72% for people with private health coverage, 68% for people with public health coverage, and just 37% for the uninsured.
For reasons not discussed by the researchers, overall control problem rates were somewhat higher for privately insured nonelderly adults than for nonelderly adults in public plans
Among nonelderly adults with high blood pressure, the total percentage with either undiagnosed or diagnosed and uncontrolled problems was about 52% for people with private health coverage, 45% for people with public coverage, and 71% for the uninsured.
Among nonelderly adults with high cholesterol, the total percentage with either undiagnosed or diagnosed and uncontrolled problems was about 62% for people with private health coverage, 58% for people with public coverage, and 81% for the uninsured.
- Allison Bell
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