RECENT FINDINGS ON PREVENTABLE HOSPITALIZATIONS

Disparities in health outcomes for low-income populations as documente d by rates of preventable hospital admissions remain large in the Unit ed States, even with the moderate expansion of Medicaid and efforts at the state and local levels to improve primary care services that bega n in the mid-1980s. These differences in outcome for rich and poor are not an isolated phenomenon of a few old and decaying Northeast urban centers but are documented in a broad range of urban areas. Much small er differences are found in urban areas in Ontario, where universal co verage may help to reduce barriers to care.