Health care affordability becoming more challenging for low-income parents

Meeting basic family needs is always a challenge for parents with low incomes, and the pandemic has only made things worse.

“We find that though parents at various income levels faced health challenges and problems accessing and affording health care, parents with low incomes faced particularly steep challenges,” according to a new report from the Urban Institute.

Researchers used data from the April 2021 Health Reform Monitoring Survey to assess health status, health insurance coverage, health care access and affordability, and worries about other basic needs. Among their findings:

• Compared with parents with higher family incomes, parents who had family incomes at or below 138% of the federal poverty level (about $30,000 per year for a family of three) were, on average, younger, more likely to have young children under age 6 and less likely to be married. As a result, many likely were balancing considerable child care responsibilities with limited resources.
• These low-income parents were more likely than those with higher incomes to report physical and mental health problems in spring 2021. Among such parents, an estimated 26.4% reported being in fair or poor health, 48.3% reported having one or more chronic conditions and 41% reported having a mental or behavioral health condition.
• In April 2021, low-income parents were more than nine times more likely to be uninsured than those with incomes at or above 400% of the poverty level. Those with incomes between 139% and 399% of the poverty level were five times more likely to be uninsured than those with incomes at or above 400% of the poverty level.
• Low-income parents were more than twice as likely as those with incomes between 139 and 399% of the poverty level and more than seven times more likely than those with incomes at or above 400% to report problems paying family medical bills.
• An estimated 61.5% of low-income parents reported delaying or forgoing some type of health care in the past 12 months because of the cost, difficulties taking time off work, difficulties balancing family or child care obligations, or transportation challenges.
• Low-income parents were more likely than parents with higher incomes to be worried about experiencing other financial and material hardships. One-third reported being very or somewhat worried about having enough to eat, and more than four in 10 reported being very or somewhat worried about being able to pay their rent or mortgage, utilities or debts in the next 30 days.

“Parents’ health is critical to their children’s health and well-being,” the report concluded. “Thus, our findings suggest improving access to and affordability of health care and supporting parents in getting the health care they need, particularly parents with incomes at or below 138% of the federal poverty level, are critical as families continue to weather the pandemic.

“Moreover, because parents with family incomes at or below 138% of the federal poverty level are more likely to be Black or Hispanic/Latinx, reducing disparities in health care access and affordability by income could reduce racial and ethnic inequities, which have widened during the pandemic across various measures. And because such families are more likely to include young children, improving health and health care among parents could have cumulative long-term benefits for children as they grow and develop.” ###