| OCR Text |
Show I. Access Access is a measure of the availability of health care to the population of a state. Access to care, both preventive and curative, is essential for promoting and maintaining good health. Four components are utilized to measure access: unemployment, adequacy of prenatal care, lack of health insurance, and support for public health care. When all four components are combined, health care in Connecticut, New Hampshire, Minnesota, and Iowa are more readily available. Health care is least accessible in New Mexico, Louisiana, Arizona, West Virginia, and Montana. 1. Unemployment Measures the average percentage of the civilian, non-institutional labor force that is unemployed during the year. It is an indirect way to measure the lack of access to insurance and health care services provided by employers as well as employees' ability to pay for health care. It is not adjusted for variations among the health plans of the employers. Data are based on 2000 Bureau of Labor statistics, U.S. Department of Labor. Utah Virginia Alaska United States 12 3.2 % of population unemployed 1 2.2 % of population unemployed 50 6.6 % of population unemployed - 4.0 % of population unemployed 2. Adequacy of Prenatal Care Defined as having one's first prenatal visit with a health professional within the first trimester of pregnancy and additional visits according to a schedule modified from the Kessner criteria, totaling nine visits during the 36 week gestation period. The data are from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Utah New Hampshire New Mexico United States 49 61.4 % of pregnant women receive scheduled prenatal care 1 88.0 % of pregnant women receive scheduled prenatal care 50 53.7 % of pregnant women receive scheduled prenatal care - 76.4 % of pregnant women receive scheduled prenatal care 3. Lack of Health Insurance Measures the percentage of the population not covered by private or public health insurance. Data source is from March 2000, Current Population Survey, U.S. Census Bureau. Utah Rhode Island New Mexico United States 26 14.2 % of population uninsured 1 6.9 % of population uninsured 50 25.8 % of population uninsured - 15.5 % of population uninsured 110 Utah's Health: An Annual Review Volume VIII |
