A dental care visit in the past year is one indicator of health care utilization. Strikingly, Table 7 shows that the use of dental services is relatively low in the U.S. for persons of all racial and income groups. However, use of dental care is strongly patterned by both race and income with persisting racial gaps in dental care at every level of income. A similar pattern is evident among adults age 50 and over who received any colorectal screening test (colonoscopy, sigmoidoscopy, proctoscopy or a fecal occult blood test) within the prior two years. Table 7 also provides one indicator of unmet medical need. Whites were less likely than all other racial groups to indicate that during the past year, they sometimes or never got care as soon as they wanted for an illness, injury, or condition. Large variations were also evident by income. For both blacks and whites, the gaps by income were larger than the overall racial gap. Instructively, Asians had the highest level of unmet medical need and unmet medical need did not vary by income for Hispanics. Access differences linked to language and cultural barriers are likely contributors to this pattern.
