Important Facts for Cost as a barrier to health care
Definition
Percentage of adults aged 18 years and older who reported they were unable to receive needed health care in the past year due to cost.Numerator
Number of survey respondents who reported they were unable to receive needed health care in the past year due to cost.Denominator
Total number of survey respondents excluding those with missing, "Don't know/Not sure", and "Refused" answers.Data Interpretation Issues
Question Text: "Was there a time in the past 12 months when you needed to see a doctor but could not because of cost?" Starting in 2009, the BRFSS included both landline and cell phone respondent interviews along with a new weighting methodology called iterative proportional fitting, or raking. This methodology utilizes additional demographic information (such as education, race, and marital status) in the weighting procedure. Both of these methodology changes were implemented to account for an increased number of U.S. households without landline phones and an under-representation of certain demographic groups that were not well-represented in the sample. More details about these changes can be found at: [https://ibis.health.utah.gov/pdf/opha/resource/brfss/RakingImpact2011.pdf]. As with all surveys, some error results from nonresponse (e.g., refusal to participate in the survey or to answer specific questions), and measurement (e.g., social desirability or recall bias). Error was minimized by use of strict calling protocols, good questionnaire design, standardization of interviewer behavior, interviewer training, and frequent, on-site interviewer monitoring and supervision.Why Is This Important?
Access to health care is still a problem for many Utahns. Individuals who cannot obtain needed health care tend to have higher rates of death and disability from chronic disease. Cost is the most commonly reported barrier to getting needed health care.Healthy People Objective AHS-6.2:
Reduce the proportion of persons who are unable to obtain or delay in obtaining necessary medical careU.S. Target: 4.2 percent