Cost kept a larger percentage of Tennesseans out of the doctor's office from 2000 to 2010 than it did citizens of any other state, according to a new study by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Urban Institute.
About 857,000 Tennesseans between the ages of 19 and 64 said in surveys over the last decade that they didn't go the doctor because they couldn't afford it. The number grew 10.8 percent from 2000 to 2010, higher growth than any other state.
"Tennessee was seeing increases in unmet need in particular for both the insured and uninsured that were large relative to the national averages," said study co-author Steve Zuckerman. "But the deterioration for the uninsured was particular pronounced."
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