Ten percent of Allegheny County residents lacked health insurance in 2002, and nearly one-third of those people had been uninsured for between two and five years.

According to survey results released yesterday, the lack of insurance created a variety of problems for people who responded to the survey, which is a first-of-its-kind effort to develop baseline health information about residents for the Allegheny County Health Department.

Thirty-seven percent of the uninsured said they needed to see a doctor during 2002, but didn't because of the cost. Insured patients were significantly more likely to have had a variety of preventive medical services including an annual check up, a check of blood cholesterol and screening tests for breast, prostate and colorectal cancer.

Health Department spokesman Guillermo Cole stressed that the uninsured rate here was lower than that reported in Pennsylvania and the nation during 2002, according to surveys by public health agencies. But the most recent numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau suggest that the Allegheny County numbers roughly matched the state average -- 10.3 percent of state residents lacked insurance during 2002.

The census bureau is expected to release today estimates for the number who lacked health insurance during 2003.

Conducted for the Health Department by the Graduate School of Public Health at the University of Pittsburgh, the survey found that the uninsured were significantly more likely than people with insurance to suffer from severe mental illness -- the survey includes a series of questions to gauge respondents' mental health status.

The percentage of uninsured here decreased with age and education level and was significantly higher at lower-income levels. Even so, there were some relatively wealthy people who lacked insurance -- 2 percent of the uninsured here made more than $75,000. There were 11 people in this income bracket who said they had skipped going to the doctor in 2002 because they couldn't afford it.

Those 11 people might have some mixed-up priorities, Cole suggested, but they might also be responding to the skyrocketing cost of health care -- a topic discussed at length yesterday in Pittsburgh during a meeting of the Senate Democratic Policy Committee.

Cliff Shannon, president of the SMC Business Councils, said that at the current rate of health care inflation, the cost of health insurance coverage for a family will outstrip the compensation of the average Pennsylvania worker by 2010.

"The cost of health care itself is increasing at a rate that's not sustainable," said Shannon, one of nine experts participating in a roundtable discussion at the City-County Building, Downtown.

While Shannon called for sweeping changes that would link the pay that doctors and hospitals receive to the quality of care they provide, other panelists suggested the cost problem is a function of unrealistic expectations on the part of patients for what health care can do.

"People in this country want to live forever, and that's pretty much where it starts," said Beverly J. Morgan, president of a benefits consulting company in Canonsburg.

Dr. Loren H. Roth, senior vice president for quality care and chief medical officer at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, stressed that the cost problem is a complicated issue to address because it is driven by so many factors. Jack Shea, president of the Allegheny County Labor Council, seconded the point by saying: "It's like grabbing that greased pig -- you can't get your arms around it."

State Sen. Richard A. Kasunic, D-Fayette, convened the roundtable -- the fourth of five scheduled -- to generate ideas for legislation to control costs.