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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
James H. Swan, PhD, Department of Public Health Sciences, Wichita State University, 1845 N. Fairmount, Box 152, Wichita, KS 67620-0152, Raymond Goldsteen, DrPH, Director of Research, WVU Institute for Health Policy Research, West Virginia University, 3110 MacCorkle Avenue SE, Charleston, WV 25304-1299, Karen Goldsteen, PhD, Health Education and Research Institute, Charleston Area Medical Center, 3200 MacCorkle Avenue, SE, Charleston, WV 25304, 304.388.9912, swan@chp.twsu.edu, and Ed Dismuke, MD, MSPH, Dean's Office, Dean, KU School of Medicine-Wichita, 1010 N. Kansas, Wichita, KS 67214.
Which publics support public health concerns with access? This paper reports attitudes of older versus younger respondents to a comprehensive, randomized, telephone survey of 956 residents of a Midwestern metropolitan county. Clear majorities supported free healthcare for the employed who cannot afford healthcare, for persons with AIDS, for the terminally ill, and for children; but less than half expressed outright support for free healthcare for the unemployed and people on welfare. Older respondents (age 65 and over) did not differ from younger respondents on most items, but were less likely to support free provision of healthcare to working poor, to persons with AIDS, and to the terminally ill, and more likely to support charging extra for health care of the obese. These relationships do not persist under control for explanatory factors. Thus, that aged tend to be less likely to support full-access measures and more likely to support rationing is explained with reference to other characteristics of respondents, particularly political ideology. Further, voters are less likely than nonvoters to support access and more likely to support rationing, while the aged are more likely than younger respondents to vote; but there is no difference by age group between voters and nonvoters in such support. Thus, the tendency of older persons to be less supportive of full access can be explained with reference to other characteristics; but that the aged remain less likely to support greater access and are more likely to vote creates difficult issues for supporters of wider healthcare access.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Access to Care, Public Health Advocacy
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.