A Look at John Q
HCS/235 History of Health Care Utilization in the US
November 20, 2013
Brett Robinson

A look at John Q
Too poor to afford private health care insurance coverage, but lucky enough to qualify for Medicaid John Q faces yet another challenge. John’s father recently suffered a heart attack which brought into question his own mortality. John like many Americans is a working class man who works full time but still under the poverty level and into a substandard and overworked Medicaid system. He like many others has high blood pressure and with his father recent heart attack he would like to be checked out. Due to John’s low income he qualifies for Medicaid coverage, but also has work within his restraints. John lives in a rural community where there are local doctors however none accept Medicaid. The closest primary care physician who takes his insurance is a forty minute drive away. John also is without a car, he relies on a friend or public transportation.
There are many mutable and un-mutable factors in this case. John could get a better job, which could result in better insurance coverage.
“The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services states that one-quarter of America’s population lives in rural areas”(Jones, 2013). John Q lives in a rural area where his son has heart condition and is in need of a heart transplant and the closest primary care physicians is 40 miles away. John usually gets a ride to work from a friend or relies on public transportation. Due to that he is not able to take his son to seek medical treatment on time. This paper is about the factors of health care utilization and their mutable or immutable and also how they can change.
The factors that can affect John’s health care utilization are that he cannot get to the proper physician because of having no transportation to the physicians as well as the physician’s