Organizational Affiliation: Rhode Island Department of Health
Author: Patricia A. Nolan
Date: March 2002
Contact Information: Patricia A. Nolan
RI Department of Health, 3 Capitol Hill, Providence, RI, 02908-5094
Pages: 4
Content Summary This policy brief analyzes the disparities in health insurance coverage as a method for measuring access to health care in Rhode Island.
Major Findings
Rhode Island has one of the lowest rates of uninsurance in the country. The author shows that uninsurance rate among women has declined from 10% in 1997 to 6.1% in 2000. In contrast, the rate has increased from 10.7% to 12.3% among men in the same time period. Those with household incomes of $15,000-$19,999 were four times more likely to be uninsured than those in households earning $50,000 or more. In addition, unemployed and young people are less likely than other groups to be insured. The report shows that blacks are twice as likely to be uninsured from 1998-2000 than whites and Asians have uninsurance rates that are over 60% higher than whites. The author concludes that rectifying these disparities will be difficult based on economic and structural challenges.
Unaddressed Issues or Concerns
This report focuses wholly on the economic factors contributing to the racial disparities in access to health care. However, a 2004 report shows that even when Latinos worked full time, were 200% below the federal poverty level, and worked low wage jobs they were still less likely than whites with identical income to have access to insurance (NewsRx.com 603). Another 2004 report on New Hampshire found that a vast majority of blacks and Latinos do not have health insurance and both groups report that they felt as if the care they receive is of inferior quality due to their race (NewsRx.com 434). These reports show that non-economic factors such as discrimination play a role in the racial disparity in access to health insurance.
Reference List
NewsRx.com. "Report: New Hampshire Minorities Face Obstacles to Healthcare." Health & Medicine Week. (2004): 603.
NewsRx.com. "Study: Low Income, Lack of Job-Based Insurance Contribute to Racial Disparities." Health & Medicine Week. (2004): 433-434.
How to Access Report http://www.health.ri.gov/publications/hpb0201.pdf