Medical Misdiagnosis Costs Billions—Women Often Pay More
Summary
Medical misdiagnosis in the United States leads to huge costs for families, with women facing higher risks and longer delays in correct diagnosis. This problem causes repeated tests, higher bills, and serious health consequences, including death or disability for many patients each year.Key Facts
- Medical misdiagnosis costs hundreds of billions of dollars annually in the U.S.
- Women are 20 to 30 percent more likely to be misdiagnosed than men.
- Women are 50 percent more likely to be misdiagnosed after a heart attack and 33 percent more after a stroke.
- Conditions like endometriosis can take 7 to 10 years for women to be correctly diagnosed.
- Women with cancer wait on average 2.5 years longer than men for an accurate diagnosis.
- The average American family spends about 11 percent of their income on healthcare costs.
- Nearly one in three Americans skips meals or cuts back on utilities to pay medical bills.
- Approximately 795,000 Americans die or are permanently disabled each year due to misdiagnosis, with experts estimating diagnostic errors could be as high as 50 to 100 million annually.
Read the Full Article
This is a fact-based summary from The Actual News. Click below to read the complete story directly from the original source.