Healthcare access problems decline

By Rene Letourneau | October 4, 2011 | 2:41 PM

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Fewer barriers to care reported in 2010

WASHINGTON – The proportion of Americans who reported going without or delaying needed healthcare declined modestly between 2007 and 2010, according to a national report released in late August by the Center for Studying Health System Change.

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Funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the HSC’s 2010 Health Tracking Household Survey results are detailed in the report, “Mixed Signals: Americans’ Access to Medical Care, 2007-2010.”

The survey found that approximately 17 percent of the U.S. population in 2010 reported not getting or delaying needed medical care in the previous 12 months, down from 20 percent in 2007. This is despite the fact that about 9 million fewer people had health insurance in 2010 compared with 2007.

The decline in access problems was driven primarily by fewer barriers for insured people, likely reflecting recession-related decreases in the demand for medical care and subsequent easing of health system capacity constraints, according to the study.
“While overall access problems declined, the access gap between insured and uninsured people widened in 2010, especially for lower-income people and those with health problems,” said Ellyn R. Boukus, HSC health research analyst and coauthor of the study.

“It is very likely that the modest decline in access problems since 2007 will be temporary,” added Boukus. “As the economy improves and as coverage expands under healthcare reform, system capacity may become strained under increased demand. Therefore, it is important for providers and policy makers to be vigilant about system bottlenecks down the line to ensure patients' needs are met.”

Although the HSC’s report gives a glimmer of hope that access problems are becoming less severe, this may not be true in all areas of the country. The Massachusetts Medical Society released study findings in May that showed (1) more than half of the state’s primary care physician practices are closed to new patients; (2) wait times to make an appointment with a primary care doctor or specialist are increasing for new patients; (3) and significant variations exist in physician acceptance of government-funded insurance.

“Massachusetts has made great strides in securing insurance coverage for its citizens,” said Alice Coombs, MD, president of the MMS, in a statement accompanying the study. “But insurance coverage doesn’t equal access to care. We still have much work to do to reduce wait times and widen access. This has important implications for healthcare cost control, as difficulty or delay with routine access to care leads people to seek other options, such as the emergency room, which is much more costly.”

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Healthcare access problems decline

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