Purpose: To assess health care access and utilization in the predominantly African-American community of Mossville, Louisiana, where elevated blood dioxin levels have been detected.
Methods: A 48-question survey was administered to 273 self-selected households from Mossville. In addition to such demographic information as household size and composition, questions addressed health insurance status, prescription drug coverage, physician office visits and medication usage. Descriptive and analytic statistics were generated from the self-reported results.
Results: Twenty-eight percent of responding households reported having no health insurance whatsoever, a proportion exceeding both Louisiana (22.5%) and national (15.5%) figures. Among households with any health insurance coverage, 36% had one or more members covered by employer-provided health insurance; 27% had one or more members covered by Medicare; 22% by Medicaid; and 4% by individual health insurance. Forty-eight percent of responding households reported having at least partial prescription drug coverage. Mean reported annual physician visits for adults from households with insurance coverage was 6.7 versus 5.0 for adults from uninsured households, a difference significant at the p < .05 level by t-test. Mean reported annual physician visits for children from households with health insurance was 6.5 versus 2.1 for children from uninsured households, a difference significant at the p < .01 level by t-test.
Learning Objectives: * Recognize advantages and disadvantages of self-reported data * List various measures of health care access and utilization * Discuss the relationship between health insurance coverage, health care utilization and health status
Keywords: Health Care Utilization, Access to Health Care
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
Disclosure not received
Relationship: Not Received.