ACCESS TO HEALTH CARE

This indicator reports the number and percentage of children under 18 years old who are uninsured; the number and percentage who do not have a usual source of care; and those who experienced delayed care or did not receive medical care or prescription medications.

Why is this important?

Improving health care access for all children helps to improve prevention, early diagnosis and treatment of health problems. Children with health insurance are more likely to get timely prescription medications and medical or mental health care when needed; are more likely to get preventive care (including immunizations, dental care and vision screenings); and, overall, have better health outcomes.

Findings

• In 2016, 2.5% of children were uninsured, representing a drop in uninsured rates by 77.1% since 2008 (from 10.9%).

• Orange County went from having a higher rate of uninsured children in 2008 (10.9%) than California (10.0%) and the United States (9.3%), to having a lower rate than both California (2.9%) and the United States (4.5%) in 2016.

• More Hispanic children continue to have higher uninsured rates than other racial/ethnic groups, with 3.2% of Hispanic children uninsured in 2016, compared with Asian children (2.2%), White children (1.9%), and Other races (1.8%). However, this gap is shrinking.

• Uninsured percentages of very young children (0-5 years old) have dropped by 78.7%, from 8.9% in 2009 to 1.9% in 2016. Similarly, rates of uninsured 6-17 year olds have dropped by nearly three-quarters, from 11.2% in 2009 to 2.9% in 2016.

• In addition, the California Health Interview Survey (pooled estimate for 2012 through 2016) reveals:

– An estimated 10.5% of Orange County children annually did not have a usual source of care to go to when they were sick or needed health advice.

– Approximately 3.2% of Orange County children experienced a delay or lack of medical care, and 3.6% experienced a delay or lack of needed prescription medications.

– Most children who had access to a usual source of care went to a doctor’s office (69.3%), while 19.0% usually went to a clinic or community hospital. The proportion of children who had no usual source of care or who regularly visited an Emergency Department, urgent care center or other location for well care was approximately 10%.