Access to Medical Care in the US: Who Has It, Who Doesn't

Did the recession of 1981-1982 reduce Americans' access to medical care? This study, based on a Lou Harris survey of 4,800 families taken in 1982, provides encouraging news. It seems that the steady progress toward improved equity evident during the 1960s and 1970s continues today. The poor and minorities, the unemployed and uninsured still have more difficulty in obtaining needed care than do other population groups, but for the most part the differentials are declining. That these findings relate to a period of severe economic stress is particularly telling: either our health care system has become recession-proof or the access picture now is even brighter than that painted by Aday and colleagues. This volume is the latest product in a research program spanning ten years. The conceptual framework for analyzing access issues was developed by the authors in 1975 and served as the basis for several national and community surveys