Measuring access to care : improving information for the policymakers

Policymakers recognize that millions of Americans are unable to obtain adequate health care and that informed debate is necessary if viable solutions are to be found. But carrying on this debate is difficult when health services researchers cannot agree about key aspects of the problem. Despite more...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Health affairs (Millwood, Va.) Va.), 1998, Vol.17 (1), p.180-186
Main Authors: BERK, M, SCHUR, C.L
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biological and medical sciences
Communication
Constraints
Data collection
Data Collection - methods
Estimates
Expenditures
Health care
Health care access
Health care policy
Health Care Surveys - methods
Health policy
Health services
Health Services Accessibility - statistics & numerical data
Health surveys
Humans
Insurance
Insurance coverage
Low income groups
Medicaid
Medical sciences
Methods
Miscellaneous
Policy analysis
Policy making
Policy research
Polls & surveys
Psychometrics
Public health. Hygiene
Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine
Public policy
Research Design
Research methodology
Researchers
Respondents
Response rates
Statistical analysis
Telephone surveys
Uninsured people
United States
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Summary:Policymakers recognize that millions of Americans are unable to obtain adequate health care and that informed debate is necessary if viable solutions are to be found. But carrying on this debate is difficult when health services researchers cannot agree about key aspects of the problem. Despite more than 60 years of conducting major national health surveys, researchers have not reached consensus about the number of Americans who do not receive adequate health care of whether access is getting better or worse over time. The large variation in estimates of access from 6 major national surveys conducted between 1982 and 1995 is examined. Reasons for these differences are discussed, as are implications for the public policy debate, and ways to improve data collection efforts so that policymakers are able to make better-informed decisions.
ISSN:0278-2715
2694-233X
1544-5208
DOI:10.1377/hlthaff.17.1.180