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 healthcare 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. The survey also found that 33 percent of African-American adults in that parish 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 healthcare 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 healthcare 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 with 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). Access the report.
http://www.kff.org/kaiserpolls/7659.cfm
