Access to medical care for children and adolescents in the United States.
To evaluate access to health care for American children and adolescents, a telephone survey of a national random sample of households was conducted in which 2182 children 17 years or younger were studied. Approximately 10% had no medical insurance; 10% had no regular source of care; and 18% identified emergency rooms, community clinics, or hospital outpatient departments as their usual site of medical care. Children who were uninsured, poor, or nonwhite were less likely to have seen a physician in the past year (P less than .001), and uninsured children were less likely to have up-to-date immunizations. Logistic regression analyses revealed that poor, uninsured, or nonwhite children less frequently had a regular source of care; more frequently used emergency rooms, community clinics, and hospital outpatient departments as their regular providers; and more frequently encountered financial barriers to health care. Low-income or nonwhite children had much less access to care compared with children from more affluent or white families, independent of insurance status or health status.
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RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, California.
Hayward
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Corey
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Freeman
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Shapiro
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D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D006296:Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000191:economics / Q000592:standards*; D006300:Health Services Misuse / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006302:Health Services Research; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income; D007223:Infant; D007348:Insurance, Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011203:Poverty; D044469:Racial Groups; D011897:Random Allocation; D015983:Selection Bias; D013689:Telephone; D014481:United States