Blog & News
Now Available on State Health Compare: Five Updated Measures and One Brand New Measure
July 27, 2022:Estimates for five measures of health care access, affordability, and use have now been updated on SHADAC’s State Health Compare web tool. One new measure, Had Dental Visit has also been added to the tool. The new and updated measures are all produced using data from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). SHADAC produces these state-level measures using restricted-access data through the Minnesota Research Data Center (MnRDC). SHADAC’s State Health Compare is the only source of state-specific data for these measures which are essential for monitoring individuals’ access to and use of medical care, along with their ability to afford care.
These measures now contain data updated through 2020, using two-year pooled periods (i.e., 2017-2018, 2019-2020). The measures can be broken down by Total, Age, and Coverage Type (Public, Private, Uninsured). Additional breakdowns—such as Race and Ethnicity—will be highlighted within future SHADAC blogs as they become available.
Updated and new measures include:
NEW: Had Dental Visit
This measure describes the percent of individuals who had a dental examination or cleaning during the past twelve months.
Had Usual Source of Medical Care
This measure captures rates of individuals who had a usual place of medical care other than an emergency department during the past twelve months.
This measure provides rates of individuals who had any visit to a general doctor or provider within the last year.
This measure looks at rates of individuals who had any type of visit to an emergency department in the past twelve months.
This measure examines rates of individuals who had trouble paying off medical bills during past twelve months for the civilian non-institutionalized population.
This measure highlights rates of individuals who were prescribed medication in the past twelve months who made changes to medical drugs because of cost during the past twelve months for the civilian non-institutionalized population. This includes delaying filling a prescription, taking less medicine, or skipping medication doses to save money.
Click here to explore these measures on State Health Compare!
Data Sources
The estimates were produced using restricted NHIS data in the MnRDC. Measures have been updated with data through 2020 using two-year pooled periods, including (a) 2017-2018 and (b) 2019-2020.
Publication
Rates of Anxiety and Depression Symptoms Declined in 2021, Remained Higher than Pre-Pandemic
June 7, 2022
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues in the United States, anxiety and depression levels remain elevated compared to pre-pandemic rates. However, 2021 data shows a significant decline in reported anxiety and depression symptoms. Despite this encouraging trend, wide disparities in mental health symptoms persist across examinations of certain demographic categories – including younger adults and individuals with lower levels of education and income reporting substantially higher rates of anxiety and depression. SHADAC Research Assistant Hannah Geressu and SHADAC Researcher Colin Planalp used data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey (HPS) to study rates of anxiety and depression in the U.S. adult population throughout 2021.
This brief examines both combined and individual rates of reported anxiety and depression symptoms for the total adult population as well as by specific breakdowns, including age, gender, race/ethnicity, income categories, and education levels.
Though the data presented in this brief offer reason for hope regarding pandemic-related impacts on mental health in the United States, it is important that these rates continue to be monitored and addressed at local, state, and national levels – especially as it pertains to populations that are disproportionately impacted by depression and anxiety. While overall rates of anxiety and depression are beginning to trend downward when compared to early pandemic data, disparities across demographic groups remain present. Findings discussed in this brief can help public health officials and policymakers identify the need for intervention and outreach targeted at populations that have been especially affected by the mental health burdens of the pandemic.
Explore additional COVID-related SHADAC work using the HPS
In 2021, SHADAC published a version of this brief that leveraged 2020 Household Pulse Survey (HPS) data.
SHADAC also wrote a blog post that provided an overview of the HPS methodology as well as survey and questionnaire updates.
Additionally, SHADAC has used HPS data to track vaccination rates for a range of demographic groups, producing state-level estimates of vaccination rates for a biweekly blog series.
Finally, SHADAC produced a blog studying vaccine hesitancy rates among adults during the first part of 2021.