Women in the Health Care System: Health Status, Insurance, and Access to Care.Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) Research Findings No. 17

摘要

This report from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) focuses onadult noninstitutionalized women in the United States in 1996. In terms of health status, the report shows perceived health, mental health, and the presence of a number of different limitations. Health insurance status is examined in terms of whether women are publicly insured, privately insured, or uninsured, and whether insured women are policyholders or dependents. Data on women's usual source of health care, use of ambulatory care services, and use of selected preventive services are used to examine access to care. The report does not compare women's health to men's health but instead looks at the health status of women by various demographic and health characteristics that may be associated with disparities in access to care or other disadvantages in the health care system, including a measure that combines martial status, presence of children in the household, and age of children. The estimates shown come from the Household Component of AHRQ's Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS).