Table 1.
Items used to construct difficulties or delays in obtaining health care and satisfaction with access to care dependent variables
| Difficulties or delays in obtaining health carea |
| In the past 12 months, did you experience difficulty or delay in obtaining any type of health care, or not receive health care that you thought you needed due to any of the reasons listed below? |
| Couldn’t afford medical care |
| Insurance company wouldn’t approve |
| Cover or pay for care |
| Insurance required a referral, but couldn’t get one |
| Doctor refused to accept insurance plan |
| Medical care was too far away |
| Too expensive to get there |
| Couldn’t get there when doctor’s office was open |
| Didn’t know where to get care |
| Took too long to get an appointment |
| Couldn’t get through on telephone to make an appointment |
| Satisfaction with access to careb,c |
| Thinking about your own health care, how would you rate the following? |
| Convenience of doctor’s office |
| Hours when the doctor’s office is open |
| Access to specialty care if needed |
| Access to hospital care if needed |
| Access to medical care in an emergency |
| Access to mental health care if needed |
| Arrangements for making medical appointments by phone |
| Length of time spent waiting at the office to see the doctor |
| Length of time between making appointment for routine care and day of visit |
| Availability of medical information or advice by phone |
| Access to medical care whenever needed |
| Services available for getting prescriptions filled |
a
Response is yes/no
b
Response on a 1–5 scale (poor, fair, good, very good, excellent)
c
Items for satisfaction with access to care were from an eleven item subscale from the Group Health Association of America (GHAA) Satisfaction Survey [27]