Number of Houston-Area Residents Who Have Difficulty Obtaining Health Care Increases, United Way Survey Says

The number of Houston-area residents who reported having difficulty accessing health care has "increased sharply" in the last two years, according to a United Way of the Texas Gulf Coast survey released last week, the Houston Chronicle reports. The survey, called the "2001 Community Assessment" and conducted by Telesurveys Research Associates, includes responses from 1,500 randomly selected residents in Fort Bend, Harris, Montgomery and Waller counties. In addition, the United Way gathered information from 192 social service agencies and 1,700 individual United Way donors. Nearly 32% of respondents said they "sometimes or often" experienced difficulty getting health care -- a 13.7 percentage point increase since 1999. Just under 47% of respondents said they had "sometimes or often experienced stress or anxiety" -- compared with 39.6% two years ago. The Chronicle reports that the study was completed prior to Sept. 11, so the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon did not alter the results. According to David Low, director of the Center for Society and Population Health, difficulty in obtaining health care is "most severe" for the uninsured, but "even insured patients" experience difficulty as employers turn to managed care plans that limit options. Low said, "The bottom line is access to health care services is getting to be more difficult for most people in America across the spectrum." Volunteers from the community and local businesses will help the United Way "interpret the survey findings" and respond to the problem, according to Linda O'Black, vice president of the United Way of the Texas Gulf Coast (Snyder, Houston Chronicle, 11/29).