Impact of individual-, environmental-, and policy-level factors on health care utilization among US farmworkers

Abstract

Objectives: We examined individual-, environmental-, and policy-level correlates of US farmworker health care utilization, guided by the behavioral model for vulnerable populations and the ecological model.

Methods: The 2006 and 2007 administrations of the National Agricultural Workers Survey (n = 2884) provided the primary data. Geographic information systems, the 2005 Uniform Data System, and rurality and border proximity indices provided environmental variables. To identify factors associated with health care use, we performed logistic regression using weighted hierarchical linear modeling.

Results: Approximately half (55.3%) of farmworkers utilized US health care in the previous 2 years. Several factors were independently associated with use at the individual level (gender, immigration and migrant status, English proficiency, transportation access, health status, and non-US health care utilization), the environmental level (proximity to US-Mexico border), and the policy level (insurance status and workplace payment structure). County Federally Qualified Health Center resources were not independently associated.

Conclusions: We identified farmworkers at greatest risk for poor access. We made recommendations for change to farmworker health care access at all 3 levels of influence, emphasizing Federally Qualified Health Center service delivery.