THURSDAY, Aug. 1, 2024 (HealthDay News) — Nonfinancial access barriers to care represent a persistent problem in the United States, with more than 12 percent of adults reporting being too busy to go to a provider, according to a study published online Aug. 1 in the National Health Statistics Reports, a publication from the National Center for Health Statistics.
Amanda E. Ng, Ph.D., M.P.H., from the National Center for Health Statistics in Hyattsville, Maryland, and colleagues used data from the 2022 National Health Interview Survey to estimate the percentage of adults who delayed or did not get medical care in the past 12 months because of five nonfinancial access barriers to care.
The researchers found that 12.5 percent of U.S. adults delayed or did not get medical care in the past 12 months because they were too busy to go to a provider; 10.6, 4.6, 4.4, and 2.4 percent could not find an available appointment when needed, were unable to get to a provider when open, had difficulty finding a doctor compatible with their health insurance, and noted that it takes too long to get to a provider, respectively. There was variation observed in the percentages by sociodemographic characteristics.
“Focusing on nonfinancial access barriers to care, in addition to financial barriers, is important for informing why adults in the United States may have unmet care needs, and for bridging existing disparities in access,” the authors write.
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