Healthcare

since healthy young adults tend to see doctors less often than older people, those with chronic conditions and toddlers, who need frequent shots and developmental screenings, Budd said. It’s also possible that older people and those with existing health problems were more worried about the virus and decided to avoid going for in-person care, he said.

Coloradans continue delaying due to costs

As of this spring, some Coloradans still reported they were putting off care. In April 2022, about 45% said reported they had postponed medical or dental care at some point in the previous year, according to the Colorado Health Foundation’s Pulse poll. That was up from summer 2021, when about 39% of people said the same thing.

Coloradans who didn’t have insurance, or were worried about losing it, were more likely to postpone care. So were those who reported they had trouble affording food, people with disabilities and those who said they’d been discriminated

against in medical settings. It’s not clear how many people would have said the same thing before the pandemic, because the cost of health care has been a concern for years.

Shemshedini said she’s noticed increasing concerns from patients about the possibility of unexpected health care costs, given that inflation is already squeezing many people’s budgets. And, of course, seeking out routine care isn’t top of mind for everyone, especially people of color, immigrants and LGBTQ people, she said.

“I think we’ve had to be a little more proactive in reaching people,” she said.

Wales, the Westminster woman who delayed seeking medical care that could have identified her cancer sooner, encouraged others to get unusual symptoms checked out — even if they seem minor.

She underwent surgery and chemotherapy in April 2021, and had to have another surgery in mid-January after doctors spotted cancer on her spleen. She expects to start another round of chemotherapy in a few weeks, and knows the cancer will likely return at some point.