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Trends in Health Insurance Status of US Children and their Parents, 1998–2008

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Abstract

In the United States (US), a parent’s health insurance status affects their children’s access to health care making it critically important to examine trends in coverage for both children and parents. To gain a better understanding of these health insurance trends, we assessed the coverage status for both children and their parents over an 11-year time period (1998–2008). We conducted secondary analysis of data from the nationally-representative Medical Expenditure Panel Survey. We examined frequency distributions for full-year child/parent insurance coverage status by family income, conducted Chi-square tests of association to assess significant differences over time, and explored factors associated with full-year insurance coverage status in 1998 and in 2008 using logistic regression. When considering all income groups together, the group with both child and parent insured decreased from 72.4 % in 1998 to 67.2 % in 2008. When stratified by income, the percentage of families with an insured child, but an uninsured parent increased for low-income families from 12.4 to 25.1 % and from 3.8 to 7.1 % for middle-income families when comparing 1998–2008. In regression analyses, family income remained the strongest characteristic associated with a lack of full-year health insurance. As future policy reforms take shape, it will be important to look beyond children’s coverage patterns to assess whether gains have been made in overall family coverage.

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Acknowledgments

This study was financially supported by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) (1 R01 HS018569) and the Oregon Health & Science University Department of Family Medicine. The funding agencies had no involvement in the design and conduct of the study; analysis, and interpretation of the data; and preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript. AHRQ collects and manages the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey.

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We have no financial conflicts of interest to disclose.

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Correspondence to Heather Angier.

Appendix

Appendix

See Table 3.

Table 3 Child and parent full-year* health insurance status patterns, by income level, 1998 through 2008

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Angier, H., DeVoe, J.E., Tillotson, C. et al. Trends in Health Insurance Status of US Children and their Parents, 1998–2008. Matern Child Health J 17, 1550–1558 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-012-1142-4

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