Reasons Youth of Color Give for Not Accessing Primary Health Care

Abstract

Survey research was conducted on patients seen at Grady Teen Clinic in Atlanta, Georgia to investigate the reasons this population, predominantly composed of youth of color, gives for not accessing primary health care. Subjects for the study were males and females aged 13-19 who attended the clinic as patients during the year 2004. Data was collected from forms contained in the teens’ medical records. A majority (53%) of the subjects (n=5210) answered that the cost of medical care was their main reason for not accessing primary health care (53%), followed by lack of health insurance (44%), fear of parents learning about their visit (42%) and not knowing where to access health care (29.4%). Responses regarding cultural and language barriers (7.3%), difficulty getting or keeping appointments (9.1%) and waiting time (3.5%) were the least frequent answers. A chi square analysis revealed males and females differed significantly with respect to reasons for not accessing health care.