Use of health insurance in county-funded clinics: issues for health care reform.
This article determines to what extent people with and without health care insurance use public health care facilities and various health care services. A descriptive study analyzed the characteristics of 6,298 patients from four county-funded primary health care clinics. The patients were overwhelmingly poor regardless of insurance status. High cost-sharing requirements, coupled with larger families and low wages, may be causing some people with insurance to use public clinics. Implications for social work policy and practice are discussed.
Rocha
C J
CJ
College of Social Work, University of Tennessee, Knoxville 37996-3333, USA.
D003151:Community Health Centers / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D017047:Cost Sharing; D005260:Female; D005380:Financing, Government; D018166:Health Care Reform; D006291:Health Policy; D006302:Health Services Research; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007348:Insurance, Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008297:Male; D017057:Medically Uninsured / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015146:Midwestern United States; D011203:Poverty; D011635:Public Health Administration; D012947:Social Work; D014504:Urban Health