More Than Four In 10 Adults In New Orleans Report Worse Health Care Access Post-Katrina

As the second
anniversary of Hurricane Katrina's landfall approaches, new analysis by the
Kaiser Family Foundation of its household survey of people in the New
Orleans area shows that more than four in 10 (43 percent) adults reported
at least one health care access problem in the aftermath of Hurricane
Katrina. Underscoring the racial disparities documented generally in the
Kaiser household survey, 70 percent of the one in four adults without
health insurance in Orleans Parish were African Americans. In Orleans
Parish, the survey found that 33 percent of African American adults were
uninsured versus 12 percent of white adults.


The newly released, Health Challenges for the People of New Orleans, is
a follow-up to the May 2007 report, Giving Voice to the People of New
Orleans: The Kaiser Post-Katrina Baseline Survey. The new 65-page report
examines the health care status of the adult population of Greater New
Orleans based on a Fall 2006 household interview survey of residents of the
parishes of Orleans, Jefferson, Plaquemines and St. Bernard and details
their health coverage and access to health care services after the
disaster.



Some of the most frequently reported health access problems included
deterioration in the ability to have health needs met now compared to
before Katrina (22 percent), having a harder time getting to their place of
medical care now (18 percent), and having a different medical provider
after Katrina (16 percent).



"Many of the health access problems highlighted in our survey are
common in other low-income urban areas across the country. What makes New
Orleans unique is the lack of a health care system able to respond
post-Katrina. The findings help explain why residents ranked getting
medical facilities up and running as such a top priority only behind
repairing levees and controlling crime," said Kaiser Family Foundation
President and CEO Drew E. Altman, Ph.D.



Health Coverage Contrast



The survey found that among all New Orleans area adults, one in five
reported being uninsured, substantially higher than the national average of
15 percent for this group. But by comparison, the survey shows that in the
Greater New Orleans area, less than one in 10 (9 percent) of households
with children reported a child lacked health insurance. And most notably,
in an area characterized by racial disparities documented throughout the
survey, the percentage without health insurance was comparable for both
African American and white households with children.



"Louisiana is among the state leaders in covering low-income children,
but ranks at the very bottom of coverage of their low-income adult
population, with Medicaid eligibility levels at 20 percent of the Federal
Poverty Level or $4,130 per year for an adult in a working family of four,"
said Foundation Executive Vice President Diane Rowland, Sc.D. "Although
Louisiana is poised to potentially narrow the racial disparity gap in
coverage of children even further with a new state law expanding their
State Children's Health Insurance Program to children up to 300 percent of
the Federal Poverty Level, addressing coverage for the one in five
uninsured adults remains a real challenge," she added.
















The uninsured rates among a variety of vulnerable subgroups are also of
note. Fifty-six percent of previous users of the Charity Hospital System-an
integral part of the New Orleans health care delivery system prior to
Hurricane Katrina, predominantly served the uninsured-reported being
without coverage.




Looking Ahead



As policymakers at the federal, state, and local level grapple with the
challenges presented by Hurricane Katrina, the Kaiser Family Foundation
will continue to give voice to the people of New Orleans and supply
policymakers with a source of information about who is returning to the
area and how they are faring. Future Kaiser household surveys planned for
the next two years will monitor progress and changes.



The full survey analysis, Health Challenges for the People of New
Orleans, along with a link to the broader May 2007 analysis is available
online at kff/kaiserpolls/7659.cfm. Additionally, Diane
Rowland will testify on August 1 to the U.S. House of Representatives,
Committee on Energy and Commerce's Subcommittee on Oversight and
Investigations about the key health findings from the household survey. The
Subcommittee is holding the hearing, "Post-Katrina Health Care in the New
Orleans Region: Progress and Continuing Concerns Part II."



METHODOLOGY



The Kaiser Post-Katrina Baseline Survey of the New Orleans Area was
designed and analyzed by researchers at the Kaiser Family Foundation. This
in-person survey was conducted door-to-door from September 12 to November
13, 2006. Interviews were completed in English and Spanish among 1,504
randomly selected adults ages 18 and older residing in Orleans, Jefferson,
Plaquemines, and St. Bernard parishes. These four neighboring parishes make
up Region 1 as defined by Louisiana's Department of Health and Hospitals,
an administrative region used for recovery planning. The sample design was
a stratified area probability sample, with 456 sampling points distributed
proportionate to expected population size in each of the four parishes, and
in each of fourteen Census tract defined neighborhoods in Orleans Parish.
An oversample was drawn in Orleans to allow for more detailed analysis of
this area; final results have been weighted so that each parish reflects
its estimated share of the area's population. The margin of sampling error
for the full sample is plus or minus 4 percentage points; for results based
on Orleans Parish or Jefferson Parish it is plus or minus 5 percentage
points. For results based on other subsets of respondents the margin of
sampling error may be larger. ICR/International Communications Research
collaborated with Kaiser researchers on sample design and weighting, and
supervised the fieldwork.


Kaiser Family Foundation

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