Deteriorating Access to Health Care

Americans' access to medical care has deteriorated significantly during the past decade, reports the Urban Institute in a new study. Among adults aged 19 to 64, access to care fell in most states between 2000 and 2010. The percentage with unmet health care needs due to cost increased in 42 states during those years. The percentage who received a routine checkup fell in 37 states, and the percentage with a dental visit fell in 29 states. Access to care was much lower and the deterioration in access was much greater for the uninsured.

In the U.S. as a whole, 11 percent of insured adults aged 19 to 64 had unmet medical needs due to cost in 2010. This compares with a much larger 48 percent of the uninsured. Among insured adults, 70 percent had a routine checkup in 2010 versus only 38 percent of the uninsured. Fully 72.3 percent of the insured had a dental visit in 2010 compared with just 37.5 percent of the uninsured. The report details the percentages by state and how they have changed since 2000.

Source: Urban Institute, Virtually Every State Experienced Deteriorating Access to Care for Adults over the Past Decade