When patients have contact to health care, they have the power to build beneficial relationships with providers and eventually manage and overcome illness and injury. Without this access, people live with excessive pain and conditions that tend to get worse over time.
Many people in the United States do not have easy access to health care, and their obstacles are not of their creation. Between high insurance costs, insufficient transportation systems, and issues with appointment availability, potential patients often face insurmountable barriers to getting the medical care they need and deserve.
What Are Some Problems with Access to Health Care?
Health care is not equally accessible across the country. Reflect the following three issues that can prevent individuals and families from accessing life-saving care:
1. High Health Care Costs
High out-of-pocket costs, flat for patients with insurance, pose a considerable barrier to accessing health care. Many give up when people have to select amid paying for food and rent or medical care. This is an unacceptable choice that is disproportionately imposed on people from low-income families.
About 30% of Americans cite high healthcare costs as a barrier to dealing, according to a December 2021 West Health and Gallup poll.
High healthcare costs are a particularly pernicious problem in the United States compared to other countries. Conferring to a 2020 report from the Commonwealth Fund published in Health Affairs, the United States has the broadest income-based health disparities compared to other developed countries.
The study found that due to financial burden, 38% of U.S. adults had avoided some type of health care (e.g., a test, treatment, visit, or prescription medication) in the past year.
While people living below the poverty line may have contact to free or low-cost health care options, those living above the poverty line and even in the middle-class income bracket may not. They cannot pay for medical care, even if they can access it.
The rising costs of health care make it out of reach for many. In addition, there is a growing number of high-deductible plans, which require people to pay a considerable amount of money before insurance kicks in, and we have an economic situation that forces many people to forgo necessary medical care just for the price.
2. Transportation Barriers
Transportation barriers significantly affect citizens’ access to healthcare in the United States, such as their ability to get to medical appointments.
People living in rural areas, where public transport and internet service may be limited, may have to travel long distances to receive repair.
According to a study published in The Journal of Rural Health, cancer patients who needed radiation therapy travelled an average of about 40.8 miles from rural areas, in contrast to those who travelled an average of about 15.4 miles from rural regions—urban areas.
Those who can drive must miss work and spend money on gas to access dealing and care. This quickly becomes a challenge for people living with chronic illness and requiring regular care.
According to the USDA’s Economic Research Service program, approximately 46 million people in the United States live in these rural areas, meaning many of them need more access.
Transportation issues also affect residents of suburban and urban areas. People with limited mobility may need help leaving their homes to access care, and providers in areas with inadequate public transportation may be inaccessible to low-income patients and patients who do not own a vehicle.
3. Implicit Bias and Health Care Avoidance
Living as a person of colour in the United States is correlated with poorer health outcomes, according to social determinants of health, a framework for sympathetic how external variables, such as where a person lives person and the level of education they have achieved, affect your health outcomes. For example:
- Infant humanity rates are 2.3 times higher for black babies than for white babies, rendering to the U.S. Department of Health and Social Facilities.
- American Indians, Alaska Natives, Hispanics, and Blacks have knowingly higher rates of diabetes than non-Hispanic White individuals (14.5%, 11.8%, 12.1%, and 7%, respectively). .4%), according to the Middles for Disease Control and Inhibition.
- People of colour experience higher COVID-19 infection rates and worse outcomes than white people, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Although many factors contribute to these disproportionately adverse outcomes, one is how people avoid interactions with healthcare providers if they expect to be victims of racial bias and discrimination.
For example, 10% of Black patients reported acumen during a medical consultation, according to April 2021 data from the
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Urban Institute.
The lack of cultural competence and respect that a person of colour may experience when seeking medical services can deter entire communities from seeking medical care, and word-of-mouth reports of racially charged interactions with healthcare professionals cause fear and anxiety.
Accessibility to Health Care: 5 Potential Solutions
Regardless of their leadership style, influential healthcare leaders understand the importance of turning to research when addressing multidimensional issues such as healthcare accessibility. Consider the following five evidence-based approaches to educating contact to health care.
1. Expand Insurance to Cover Health Care Costs
Rendering to the National Center for Health Statistics, 31.6 million people of all ages stayed uninsured in 2020. These people are typically employed or dependents of employed individuals, including 3.7 million children. Uninsured.
There are many reasons for this growing trend. As the cost of cover continues to increase, many companies can no longer offer it to their employees.
Buying insurance in the private market often leaves people with expensive insurance policies and high-deductible plans. For some, this is an expense they cannot afford.
Medicaid expansion was a significant effort to expand assurance coverage and access to health care in the United States. This process, although complex, has improved access to health care for many. As of January 2020, 35 states and the District of Columbia have expanded Medicaid.
The result? Giving to the National Centre for Health Statistics, adults ages 18 to 64 who lived in states with Medicaid expansion were more likely to be insured, more likely to have private insurance, and more likely to have public coverage than adults living in non-expansion states.
2. Extend Telehealth Services
Historically, providers have been reluctant to establish services in small, rural communities because they lack large hospital systems, and the population cannot afford them.
Those with clinics in small, rural towns may not have the latest technology to provide the highest level of care. This means people must travel outside their home community to receive medical care.
Telehealth provides remote access to doctors and other medical providers for patients who do not have a physical clinic in their area. Doctors can communicate across large geographic distances using video conferencing and cloud-based data to coordinate patient care better.
In rural areas, telehealth allows small-town doctors to connect their patients with authorities to help provide better overall care. Once the technology is in place, it will give a more affordable option for those facing cost concerns.
It can eliminate the need to visit the doctor for routine checkups, allowing patients to log in remotely for these checkups.
3. Invest in Mobile Clinics
The U.S. healthcare system is increasingly investing in alternative treatment sites to address transportation issues due to geographic barriers and improve access to care.
Instead of going to the hospital, many patients can now access care in mobile clinics closer to where they live and work.
For example, during the COVID-19 pandemic, many states deployed mobile clinics built inside vans and trailers in rural areas, providing testing and treatment resources to communities with limited health services.
Patients could drive to these clinics and receive treatment while remaining inside their vehicle.
Another example is the rise of autonomous emergency services. These provide emergency services so that people living in communities without a hospital can receive emergency care when needed.
4. Educate the Public About Multiple Health Care Sites
Emergency room visits are particularly costly in the United States. Because of its cost, many people who need emergency care (“high-risk” patients) forgo treatment.
Paradoxically, many other patients seek emergency care when it is unnecessary due to a lack of knowledge about cheaper healthcare facilities.
Patients must be better informed about where they can (and should) seek care based on their symptoms. This requires understanding the different services provided in primary care centres, urgent care centres, and emergency rooms.
Bringing Health Care to Patients in Need
After considering some of the many ways to improve access to healthcare in the United States, you may be interested in pursuing a career in healthcare leadership.
Those ready to lead change in the medical field should consider the USC Executive MHA.
An EMHA degree can help prepare physicians, executives, and managers to make health care more affordable, accessible, and equitable. Learn how USC can help you shape your career to transform the healthcare industry.
