Beyond access: extending our thinking on health policy

Expanding access is often seen as a panacea for health problems. Although access is a necessary step, it is also important that policy analysts do not fail to consider postaccess issues. Increased access to health is often assumed to be synonymous with improved health outcomes; however, just because access exists does not mean (1) that everyone will take advantage of access to resources or (2) that those taking advantage of access will necessarily see improved outcomes. This article focuses on three aspects of health policy, (1) the types of postaccess issues that exist, (2) the "if you build it, they will come" syndrome, and (3) updating the Anderson/Aday model of health care access to better theoretically understand postaccess issues.