Transportation and Healthcare Access

Ensuring that a person can get to and from healthcare-related appointments is crucial for good health. Unfortunately, for many people, a lack of transportation options can prevent them from receiving adequate and life-saving care. In 2017, for example, 5.8 million Americans delayed medical care due to transportation barriers.1

This is especially true for individuals with limited resources and/or mobility-related challenges. Their ability to access healthcare depends on whether they can afford and/or easily utilize specialized transit options like Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) paratransit and nonemergency medical transportation—a Medicaid benefit for eligible beneficiaries.

Additionally, the availability of public transportation varies by geographical area and by sociodemographic characteristics such as race/ethnicity and poverty. For instance, a recent study found that Hispanic people experienced 1.5 times the odds of reporting a transportation barrier to care than did their White peers after controlling for other sociodemographic and health-related variables.2

In other words, a lack of access to affordable and reliable public transit impacts the health of the entire community, and in particular minority communities. As a result, a 2022 TRB webinar on the intersection of transportation and health highlighted that it is important to align transportation systems with goals related to equitable communities.

By providing equitable opportunities to use public transit, communities can improve physical and mental health and help people connect with healthy food, vital services, employment and social connections. This approach also reduces traffic crashes and air pollution that are linked to poor health outcomes such as obesity and asthma. transportation and healthcare access