Abstract
Research evidence indicates that racial/ethnic minorities in the United States, including African Americans, have low rates of access to and use of health care, including preventive health services. The implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) has afforded health insurance coverage and increased access to preventive health services for eligible Americans. Despite the ACA provision of free access to preventive health services, there remains a gap in the use of those services by ethnic minorities. It is not clear whether that gap is due to lack of health insurance or lack of knowledge about the ACA provision. This study examines the extent to which knowledge or familiarity with the Act enhances the use of preventive health services among African Americans in the Tallahassee-Leon County area of northwest Florida. It used primary data collected from a survey conducted during March-April 2012 among a sample of self-identified African American adults in the area. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 22 was used for running frequency analysis on the dataset, which indicated that although majority of insured respondents used preventive health services, some of the insured did not use preventive services because they were unfamiliar with the ACA provision of free access to preventive services for insured people. Health promotion and awareness campaigns about the law’s benefits by local and state health departments can enhance the use of preventive services.
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Dr. Victor Eno teaches political science in the Department of History and Political Science at Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University in Tallahassee, Florida in the United States of America. Dr. Eno earned his Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree in political science from Howard University in Washington, D.C. also in the United States in May 2008. His areas of specialization include public administration and public policy with a focus on health policy, international relations, and comparative politics with a focus on Africa. Dr. Eno is a member of the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA), and is active and serves on the governing board of the North Florida Chapter of ASPA.
Senthilkumar Mehalingam, works as the Coordinator of Computer Applications in the Enterprise Information Technology (EIT) Division in Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University. He earned his Master of Science (MS) in Computer Engineering from State University of New York (SUNY), Binghamton, New York in the U.S. in 2006.
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Eno, V., Mehalingam, S. Knowledge of Healthcare Legislation and Use of Preventive Health Services in the Tallahassee-Leon County area of northwest Florida in the United States. GSTF J Law Soc Sci 4, 17 (2015). https://doi.org/10.7603/s40741-014-0017-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.7603/s40741-014-0017-y