36 million Americans have inadequate health care

Mar 29 2004

New data indicate 36 million Americans do not have access to health practitioners and therefore do not receive adequate health care, regardless of the fact that many are insured or are eligible for Medicare or Medicaid.

While most reports on health care focus on the 43 million Americans who are uninsured, a new report by the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC) found that approximately 12 percent of the nations population, or one person out of every eight, are medically unserved and simply do not have access to basic care.

According to the report, most of the medically unserved live in inner-cities or are residents of an isolated rural community. However, none of these individuals receive regular medical attention since not enough physicians who are willing and able to provide them care live in their communities.

The data also indicated that almost half of medically unserved individuals do not have health insurance. In addition, Latinos appear to have the highest concentration of people who do lack access to basic health care at 28 percent.

Among states with a high medically unserved population, Texas ranked first and was followed by Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Tennessee.

Previous research has shown that not having medical insurance tends to lead to delays in seeking care, according to the report. Compared to individuals who are not insured, those with medical insurance are not as likely to delay seeking care and are also less likely to go to the emergency room for care or to be hospitalized for a preventable illness.

Where the unserved live, there are higher rates of infant and childhood illnesses and higher mortality rates, said Dr. Gary Wiltz, executive and medical director of Teche Action Board in Lousiana.