Health care delay of farmers 50 years and older in Kentucky and South Carolina

This article describes the prevalence of avoiding/delaying medical or dental care because of cost and the factors associated with whether or not farmers aged 50 and older avoid or delay seeking medical or dental care for financial reasons. Data from 957 respondents aged 50 and over who resided in farm households in 2 southern states in the United States completed either a telephone or mailed survey. Participants indicated that they had avoided or delayed seeking health care (7%) or dental care (9%) because of cost. Significant predictors of delay in medical care included age, income, self-rated health, number of health conditions, and having private insurance as the primary policy. Younger individuals, with lower annual income, poorer self-rated health, more current medical conditions, and without private medical insurance as their primary health policy were more likely to delay. Significant predictors of delay in dental care were income, having an off-farm job, taking prescription medication daily, and having Medicaid as at least one source of health coverage. Those with lower income, an off-farm job, and those who took prescription drugs daily were more likely to delay seeking dental care. On the other hand, those who had Medicaid were less likely to delay seeking dental care. While nearly all of the respondents had some form of health insurance coverage, cost was still perceived as a barrier to care. More study is needed to examine this phenomenon for a cohort of older workers with comorbidities.