Hispanics and the Uninsured Are Less Likely to Get Prompt Care for Urgent Health Needs

AHRQ News and Numbers

Release date: April 26, 2005

The most recent data from the Federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality show that Hispanics and the uninsured are less likely to get prompt care for urgent health needs than other Americans, and the problem is worse now than in 2000.

• One in four Hispanics (26 percent) was never or only sometimes treated promptly for an urgent injury or illness in 2002—an increase of roughly 16 percent over Hispanics who reported the same problem in 2000 (22 percent).
• Uninsured adults 18 to 64 years of age were more than twice as likely as privately insured adults to say they sometimes or never received care right away for an urgent medical problem—reflecting an increased reporting of this problem by the uninsured since 2000.

For a copy of today's study, Access to Urgent Medical Care Among Adults 18 Years and Older: 2000-2002, visit http://www.meps.ahrq.gov/mepsweb/data_files/publications/st74/stat74.pdf (PDF Help).

Internet Citation:

Hispanics and the Uninsured Are Less Likely to Get Prompt Care for Urgent Health Needs. AHRQ News and Numbers, April 26, 2005. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/news/nn/nn042605.htm