Families struggle to afford medical care for a disabled child

By Louise Kinross

American families with children with disabilities were almost twice as likely as those without to experience financial hardship due to health-care costs, according to a new study in JAMA Network Open.

Researchers used the National Health Interview Survey to quantify difficulty paying, and worry about, a child's medical bills and delaying or not following up on a child's care or prescriptions because they couldn't afford them. 

The study found parents of 22,670 children aged five to 17 years with disabilities were more likely to have public insurance or a combination of private and public insurance than parents of nondisabled children. They were also almost two times as likely to experience any of six financial hardships related to medical care of their child.

"This finding suggests that insurance is inadequate for disabled children," the researchers write. "Proposed cuts to the federal contribution to Medicaid would likely exacerbate the financial distress of these families."

The study was led by Dr. Amy Houtrow, chief of pediatric rehabilitation medicine services at the UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh. Her research with the DIVERSE Collective focuses on health equity for multiply marginalized children with disabilities, who are at risk of poor health.

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