As health costs rise, patients cut back

It's no surprise: as health costs rise, consumers are cutting back on the services they use. For example, physician office visits fell 1.2 percent between July 2007 and 2008, according to one study. Even more telling, during the first half of 2008, the number of prescriptions filled in the U.S. fell, the first such fall in 10 years. These patterns seem to extend even to patients with solid coverage and relatively low deductibles, analysts say. Article