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Insurance or a regular physician: which is the most powerful predictor of health care?

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Title: Insurance or a regular physician: which is the most powerful predictor of health care?
Authors: Sox CM (AUTHOR), Swartz K (AUTHOR), Burstin HR (AUTHOR), Brennan TA (AUTHOR)
Source: American Journal of Public Health. Mar98, Vol. 88 Issue 3, p364-370. 7p.
Subjects: Medical care, Health insurance
Geographic Terms: United States
Abstract: OBJECTIVES: This study compared the relative effects on access to health care of relationship with a regular physician and insurance status. METHODS: The subjects were 1952 nonretired, non-Medicare patients aged 18 to 64 years who presented with 1 of 6 chief complaints to 5 academic hospital emergency departments in Boston and Cambridge, Mass, during a 1-month study period in 1995. Access to care was evaluated by 3 measures: delay in seeking care for the current complaint, no physician visit in the previous year, and no emergency department visit in the previous year. RESULTS: After clinical and socioeconomic characteristics were controlled, lacking a regular physician was a stronger, more consistent predictor than insurance status of delay in seeking care (odds ratio [OR] = 1.6, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.2, 2.1), no physician visit [OR] = 4.5%, 95% CI = 3.3, 6.1), and no emergency department visit (OR = 1.8, 95% CI = 1.4, 2.4). For patients with a regular physician, access was no different between the uninsured and the privately insured. For privately insured patients, those with no regular physician had worse access than those with a regular physician. CONCLUSIONS: Among patients presenting to emergency departments, relationship with a regular physician is a stronger predictor than insurance status of access to care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Copyright of American Journal of Public Health is the property of American Public Health Association and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
Database: Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection
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  Data: Insurance or a regular physician: which is the most powerful predictor of health care?
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Sox+CM%22">Sox CM</searchLink> (AUTHOR)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Swartz+K%22">Swartz K</searchLink> (AUTHOR)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Burstin+HR%22">Burstin HR</searchLink> (AUTHOR)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Brennan+TA%22">Brennan TA</searchLink> (AUTHOR)
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="JN" term="%22American+Journal+of+Public+Health%22">American Journal of Public Health</searchLink>. Mar98, Vol. 88 Issue 3, p364-370. 7p.
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Medical+care%22">Medical care</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Health+insurance%22">Health insurance</searchLink>
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22United+States%22">United States</searchLink>
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  Data: OBJECTIVES: This study compared the relative effects on access to health care of relationship with a regular physician and insurance status. METHODS: The subjects were 1952 nonretired, non-Medicare patients aged 18 to 64 years who presented with 1 of 6 chief complaints to 5 academic hospital emergency departments in Boston and Cambridge, Mass, during a 1-month study period in 1995. Access to care was evaluated by 3 measures: delay in seeking care for the current complaint, no physician visit in the previous year, and no emergency department visit in the previous year. RESULTS: After clinical and socioeconomic characteristics were controlled, lacking a regular physician was a stronger, more consistent predictor than insurance status of delay in seeking care (odds ratio [OR] = 1.6, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.2, 2.1), no physician visit [OR] = 4.5%, 95% CI = 3.3, 6.1), and no emergency department visit (OR = 1.8, 95% CI = 1.4, 2.4). For patients with a regular physician, access was no different between the uninsured and the privately insured. For privately insured patients, those with no regular physician had worse access than those with a regular physician. CONCLUSIONS: Among patients presenting to emergency departments, relationship with a regular physician is a stronger predictor than insurance status of access to care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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  Data: <i>Copyright of American Journal of Public Health is the property of American Public Health Association and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.</i> (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
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        Value: 10.2105/AJPH.88.3.364
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        Text: English
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              Text: Mar98
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              Y: 1998
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