Relationships Between Welfare Status, Health Insurance Status, and Health and Medical Care Among Children With Asthma

• Published in: American journal of public health (1971) Vol. 92; no. 9; pp. 1446 - 1452
• Main Authors: Wood, Pamela R, Smith, Lauren A, Romero, Diana, Bradshaw, Patrick, Wise, Paul H, Chavkin, Wendy
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC Am Public Health Assoc 01.09.2002; American Public Health Association; American Journal of Public Health 2002
• Subjects: Adult; Aid to Families with Dependent Children - legislation & jurisprudence; Aid to Families with Dependent Children - standards; Asthma; Asthma - economics; Asthma - physiopathology; Asthma - therapy; Biological and medical sciences; Child; Child Health Services - economics; Child Health Services - standards; Child, Preschool; Children; Children & youth; Chronic Disease - economics; Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma; Cross-Sectional Studies; Emergency medical care; Enrollments; Ethnicity; Families & family life; Female; Forum on Welfare Reform; Health; Health care policy; Health Care Surveys; Health insurance; Health services; Health Services Accessibility; Hispanic Americans; Humans; Insurance Coverage - statistics & numerical data; Interviews as Topic; Marital status; Medicaid; Medicaid - legislation & jurisprudence; Medicaid - standards; Medical sciences; Medical treatment; Medically Uninsured - statistics & numerical data; Mental Health; Mothers - psychology; Parents & parenting; Pediatrics; Pneumology; Public assistance programs; Public health; Quality of Health Care; Questionnaires; Regression analysis; San Antonio; Severity of Illness Index; Sociodemographics; Surveys and Questionnaires; Uninsured people; USA; Variables; Welfare; Welfare reform; United States > US; Human; Health insurance; Correlation; Questionnaire; Respiratory disease; Parent; Primary health care; Multicenter study; Use; Mental health; Barrier; Epidemiology; Asthma; Welfare; Obstructive pulmonary disease; Child
• ISSN: 0090-0036; 1541-0048
• DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.92.9.1446

This study evaluated the relationships between health insurance and welfare status and the health and medical care of children with asthma. Parents of children with asthma aged 2 to 12 years were interviewed at 6 urban clinical sites and 2 welfare offices. Children whose families had applied for but were denied welfare had more asthma symptoms than did children whose families had had no contact with the welfare system. Poorer mental health in parents was associated with more asthma symptoms and higher rates of health care use in their children. Parents of uninsured and transiently insured children identified more barriers to health care than did parents whose children were insured. Children whose families have applied for welfare and children who are uninsured are at high risk medically and may require additional services to improve health outcomes.