Siemens Healthcare has issued a study indicating that an overwhelming majority of those in the U.S. would want to know if they have a serious illness or injury, even if there is no cure.
Market research firm Harris Interactive conducted an online survey of 2,222 U.S. adults 18 and older from April 9 to 11 on behalf of Siemens. According to the survey, 92% of respondents agreed that knowing exactly what is wrong with their health is as important as having access to a doctor in the first place, Siemens said. In addition, 78% said they would want to have a test done to diagnose a disease, even if there is no treatment or cure available.
The survey results show that the majority of U.S. adults see value in medical testing and imaging such as MR and CT scans, according to Siemens. Sixty-six percent of Americans would be willing to pay out of their own pocket for tests to diagnose serious illness if there were such a test but it was not covered by their insurance.
Furthermore, 56% have either personally and/or had someone in their family experience an illness or injury that was at least in part diagnosed using a medical imaging scan, the company said.
In other report findings:
- 87% of Americans agree that ruling out a diagnosis can save money in terms of potentially unnecessary, costly treatments.
- 83% of Americans agree that even if medical technologies and tests are expensive, they save money in the long run by helping doctors get to the right diagnosis quickly.
- Women older than 45 are more likely than men of the same age to agree that knowing exactly what is wrong is as important as having access to a doctor in the first place (99% of women ages 45 to 54 and 97% ages 55 and older, compared with 92% and 91% of men, respectively).
- 80% of Americans are concerned that the government is making decisions about their medical care purely on the basis of cost, and nearly 89% feel that way about insurance companies.
- Only 8% said they personally and/or someone in their close family has been denied access to medical imaging device testing by a doctor or hospital. Of these respondents, 59% said it was due to cost, while 41% said it was for a medical reason.
