Impact of the Type of Health Care Coverage on Access to Primary Care

Background: U.S. spends more on health care than any other nation. In 2009, health care costs reached $2.5 trillion, nearly 17 percent of the GDP. Despite this spending, health outcomes in the U.S. are far worse than in other countries. Access to primary health care reflects the provision of preventive care, which alone has the potential to lower the spending on costly medical care as proved from many scientific studies

Objective: Purpose of this study is to describe the impact of various types of health care coverage on access to primary care

Methods: Cross sectional study of 2007 National Ambulatory Medical Survey (NAMCS) analysis involving 29,596 subjects aged 18 years and above. Analysis done using SAS version 9.2 Main Outcome Measure: Access to Primary care Physician (PCP): Are you the patients Primary care Physician: Yes or No

Results: Patients with workers compensation are most likely to have no access to primary care as compared to those who have private insurance (Adjusted OR =21.16{95% confidence interval: 19.08-23.47}). Majority of visits were made to the primary care provider for medical problems of acute nature followed by chronic problems and the least for seeking preventive care.

Conclusion: Patients with workers compensation fare worst when it comes to access to primary care. Provision of universal health care coverage for all, alone may not solve the problem related to access of primary health care and the health care disparities may still exist despite policy makers effort to provide a universal health care coverage for all.