Substance Use, Dependence, and Service Utilization Among the US Uninsured Nonelderly Population

We examined the prevalence and correlates of substance use, dependence, and service utilization among uninsured persons aged 12 to 64 years. We drew study data from the 1998 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse. An estimated 80% of uninsured nonelderly persons reported being uninsured for more th...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:American journal of public health (1971) 2003-12, Vol.93 (12), p.2079-2085
Main Authors: Wu, Li-Tzy, Kouzis, Anthony C, Schlenger, William E
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Alcohol use
Anesthesia
Biological and medical sciences
Child
Cocaine
Counseling - economics
Counseling - statistics & numerical data
Drug abuse
Drug dependency
Drug use
Ethnic differences
Ethnicity
Family Characteristics
Female
Hallucinogens
Health Care Surveys
Health insurance
Health maintenance organizations
Health services
Health Services Accessibility - economics
Health Services Accessibility - statistics & numerical data
Heroin
Hispanic Americans
HMOs
Homeless people
Households
Humans
Indigent care
Insurance coverage
Insurance Coverage - statistics & numerical data
Low income groups
Male
Medical sciences
Medically Uninsured - statistics & numerical data
Mental disorders
Mental health
Mental health care
Middle Aged
Prevalence
Prevention and actions
Probability
Public health
Public health. Hygiene
Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine
Racial differences
Research and Practice
Specific populations (family, woman, child, elderly...)
Substance Abuse Treatment Centers - economics
Substance Abuse Treatment Centers - statistics & numerical data
Substance abusers
Substance-Related Disorders - economics
Substance-Related Disorders - epidemiology
Substance-Related Disorders - rehabilitation
Tranquilizers
Treatment
Uninsured patients
Uninsured people
United States - epidemiology
USA
Users
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:We examined the prevalence and correlates of substance use, dependence, and service utilization among uninsured persons aged 12 to 64 years. We drew study data from the 1998 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse. An estimated 80% of uninsured nonelderly persons reported being uninsured for more than 6 months in the prior year. Only 9% of these uninsured persons who were dependent on alcohol or drugs had received any substance abuse service in the past year. Non-Hispanic Whites were an estimated 3 times more likely than Blacks to receive substance abuse services. Compared with the privately insured, uninsured persons had increased odds of having alcohol/drug dependence and appeared to face substantial barriers to health services for substance use problems.
ISSN:0090-0036
1541-0048
DOI:10.2105/AJPH.93.12.2079