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Virtually Every State Experienced Deteriorating Access to Care for Adults Over the Past Decade
Quantitative Analysis Report
A report funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, as part of its Affordable Care Act (ACA) Implementation Monitoring and Tracking Series, shows that the ability of U.S. adults to access basic health care services has declined in nearly every state over the last decade. Adults without health insurance saw larger declines in the ability to obtain basic health care services, compared to those with coverage. By 2010, almost half of uninsured adults (48.1%) had an unmet health need due to cost, compared to 11.2 percent of insured adults.
Authored by researchers at the Urban Institute, the report examines three key health access indicators: having unmet medical needs due to cost; having a routine check-up; and having a dental visit during the year. The authors found a marked deterioration across all three measures between 2000 and 2010, specifically that:
- The share of adults experiencing unmet medical needs due to cost rose by 6.0 percentage points from 2000 to 2010. For uninsured adults, it rose by 10.8 percentage points.
- The share of adults receiving a routine check-up decreased nationwide by 5.1 percentage points, with the share among uninsured adults decreasing by 11.6 percentage points.
- The share of adults receiving a dental visit dropped by 3.9 percentage points, while the share among uninsured adults fell by 9.0 percentage points.
This report is one in a series of briefs examining coverage trends among different groups targeted by ACA coverage expansions.
ACA Implementation - Monitoring and Tracking Series: Quantitative Analysis
- 1 A Decade of Coverage Losses: Implications for the Affordable Care Act
- 2 Virtually Every State Experienced Deteriorating Access to Care for Adults Over the Past Decade
- 3 The Financial Burden of Medical Spending Among the Non-Elderly, 2010
- 4 Uninsurance is not Just a Minority Issue
- 5 Deteriorating Health Insurance Coverage: Coverage Takes the Biggest Hit in the South and Midwest
- 6 Declining Health Insurance in Low-Income Working Families and Small Businesses
- 7 Trends in U.S. Health Care Spending Leading Up to Health Reform