Age, Sex, Health Status, and Health Insurance as Predictors of Health Care Access

Objectives: The barrier to healthcare access is a major health disparity. Healthcare access for minorities has long been a topic of considerable interest for researchers and policy makers. The purpose of this study was to examine if age, sex, race, health status, and health insurance predict healthcare access.

Methods: A sample of 1,000 randomly chosen cases of various ethnicities (Latino, Asian/Pacific Islander, White, and others) was used from the California Health Interview Survey (CHIS), which recruits adults that reside in 58 counties of California. An adult's age, sex, race, health status, and health insurance were analyzed to examine healthcare access, which is operationalized to the physician visit.

Results: Overall, approximately half of the adults in California had more than three physician visits in the last 12 months. Age, sex, insurance, race, and health status significantly predict healthcare access (Chi-square (df) =96.906 (7), P<.05). Older people, females, and those in poor health, and the insured are more likely to access healthcare compared to younger men who are in good health and uninsured.

Conclusions: Asians and Latinos are in generally poor health. However, their healthcare access was not significantly different compared to other population groups in our study. Further studies should clarify why Asians have similar access compared to Caucasians. Health insurance coverage should also be considered by policy makers. Furthermore, the results indicate that all people in the U. S. should be covered by health insurance regardless of ethnicity.