ABSTRACT
A topic that has come up repeatedly in the preceding chapters has been the unevenness in the distribution of poor health outcomes among population groups and the varying patterns of access, quality and utilization of health services to address these problems. This chapter examines these parameters of health care access, focusing on the types of health resources that are available, the increasingly pluralistic nature of these resources, and the efforts to develop measurable and mappable indicators to monitor progress in health access, affordability and quality. The topics are addressed in tandem with the various conceptualizations that have been presented in the literature. Examples are drawn from the United States, a country that has recently passed a new health care legislation to expand coverage across all population groups. We use data from the Census and National Center for Health Statistics to map out the distribution of the uninsured in America. This is followed by a statistical analysis to identify the social and economic attributes that best describe these uninsured Americans. These findings are used to generate new ideas and strategies for promoting health equity and the broader objectives of social justice
