Distance to Hospital and Children's Use of Preventive Care: Is Being Closer Better, and for Whom?

This article examines the effect of distance to hospital on preventive care among children using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth's Child‐Mother file matched to data from the 1990 American Hospital Association Survey. Among central‐city black children, each additional mile from the hospital is associated with a 3‐percentage‐point decline in the probability of having had a checkup (from a mean baseline of 74%). Moreover, the effects are similar for privately and publicly insured black children. For this group, access to providers is as important as private insurance coverage in predicting use of preventive care.