Table 2. Health Insurance Literacy Measure and Cost-Related Delayed or Foregone Servicesa.
Type of Delayed/Foregone Care | No. (%)b | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
Participants | HILM Score | |||
All | Eligible | Lower, 1-60 | Higher, 61-84 | |
Preventive care | 80 (15.8) | 80 (15.8) | 43 (23.8) | 37 (11.4) |
Physical examination | 53 (10.5) | 53 (10.5) | 31 (17.1) | 22 (6.8) |
Cholesterol level check | 26 (5.1) | 8 (6.0) | 12 (6.6) | 14 (4.3) |
Influenza vaccination | 27 (5.3) | 27 (5.3) | 15 (8.3) | 12 (3.7) |
Colon cancer screening test | 17 (3.4) | 3 (5.3) | 10 (5.5) | 7 (2.2) |
Mammogram | 20 (4.0) | 2 (5.7) | 12 (6.6) | 8 (2.5) |
Papanicolaou test | 30 (5.9) | 26 (11.6) | 17 (9.4) | 13 (4.0) |
Nonpreventive care | 76 (15.0) | 76 (15.0) | 35 (19.3) | 41 (12.6) |
Urgent visit | 50 (9.9) | 50 (9.9) | 24 (13.3) | 26 (8.0) |
Radiograph | 13 (2.6) | 13 (2.6) | 6 (3.3) | 7 (2.2) |
Magnetic resonance imaging | 40 (7.9) | 40 (7.9) | 18 (9.9) | 22 (6.8) |
Abbreviation: HILM, Health Insurance Literacy Measure.
A total of 150 of the 506 survey participants (30% of overall sample) had delayed or foregone care owing to cost. Summary variables for preventive care and nonpreventive care were considered yes if yes was indicated for any of the services listed below in each section. Statistical analyses for aggregated delayed or foregone preventive care and nonpreventive care outcomes are represented in Table 3.
Participant eligibility for health care services was defined as cholesterol level check (men aged ≥35 years and women aged ≥45 years; n = 133); colon cancer screening test (participants aged 50-75 years; n = 57); mammogram (women aged 21-65 years; n = 35); Papanicolaou test (women aged 21-65 years; n = 224); all other health care services (all participants; N = 506). The HILM scores dichotomized at 60 into lower HILM (n = 181) and higher HILM (n = 325). The denominator changes for each service, depending on the reporting of eligible respondents.