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Table 4 Health status, special healthcare needs, access to healthcare, unmet healthcare needs,a use of health services, parental out-of-pocket costs of health services, quality of pediatric care, parental satisfaction with pediatric care, parental-reported financial burden of child’s healthcare, and missed school and work days due to child’s health among uninsured minority children eligible for but not insured by Medicaid or CHIP (N = 267)

From: A cross-sectional study of parental awareness of and reasons for lack of health insurance among minority children, and the impact on health, access to care, and unmet needs

Measure Proportion, Mean, or Mean Cost
Health status
 Health status not excellent/very good 38 %
 Worry about child’s health more than other people 83 %
 Have emotional worry or concern about child’s physical health 75 %
Special healthcare need
 Any special healthcare need 66 %
 Eczema 28 %
 Respiratory allergy 18 %
 Asthma 15 %
 Behavior problem 13 %
 Bone or joint problem 12 %
 More than three ear infections 7 %
 Allergy 7 %
 ADHD 7 %
 Speech problem 7 %
 Depression 6 %
 Headache 6 %
 Anxiety 5 %
 Hearing problem 2 %
 Autism 1 %
 Brain injury 1 %
 Diabetes 0.4 %
 Any other health problem 27 %
Access to healthcare
 Child has no PCP 64 %
 Child has no usual source of preventive care 40 %
 Sources of preventive care and sick care different 55 %
 Never/sometimes gets immediate care from PCP 10 %
 Usual source of care has no night or weekend office hours 88 %
 Does not have access to 24-hour telephone coverage for sick care 88 %
 No access to same-day sick-care visit without appointment 67 %
 Child has no usual source of sick care 18 %
 Difficult getting appointment for sick care 12 %
 Never/sometimes has access to interpreterb 11 %
 Has problems getting care from specialists 8 %
 Has problem getting special servicesc 8 %
 Never/sometimes can obtain after-hours telephone help or advice 6 %
Unmet healthcare needs
 Delayed or didn’t get needed healthcare 73 %
 Didn’t receive all needed dental care 61 %
 Didn’t receive all needed preventive care 51 %
 Didn’t receive all needed hearing aids or hearing care 100 %
 Didn’t receive all needed physical, occupational, or speech therapy 79 %
 Didn’t receive all needed mental healthcare 70 %
 Didn’t receive all needed mobility aids or devicesd 67 %
 Didn’t receive all needed specialty care 57 %
 Problems obtaining needed specialty referral 53 %
 Didn’t receive all needed home healthcare 50 %
 Didn’t receive all needed vision care 46 %
 Didn’t receive all needed medical supplies or equipmente 23 %
 Didn’t receive all needed acute care 19 %
 Didn’t receive all needed prescription medications 18 %
Use and out-of-pocket cost of health services  
 Mean number of any doctor visits in past year 3.3
 Mean out-of-pocket cost per doctor visitf $141.7
 Mean number of preventive care visits in past year 1.0
 Mean out-of-pocket cost per preventive-care visitg $46.7
 Mean number of sick visits in past year 1.8
 Mean out-of-pocket cost per sick visith $195.1
 Mean number of ED visits in past year 0.9
 Mean out-of-pocket cost per ED visiti $421.0
 Mean number of hospital stays in past year 0.1
 Mean out-of-pocket cost per hospital stayj $593.1
Parental-reported financial burden of child’s healthcare  
 Need additional income to cover child’s medical expenses 45 %
 Child’s health caused financial problems for family 35 %
 Family cut down on work hours to obtain healthcare for child 23 %
 Stopped working because of child’s health 10 %
Missed school and work days due to child’s health  
 Mean missed school days due to child’s illness 3.4
 Mean missed work days due to child’s illness 1.7
 Mean wage loss due to missed work days for child’s illnessk $342.9
 Other mean costs related to taking care of sick childk $155.5
Quality of carel  
 Mean rating of child’s well-child visits 8.3
 Mean rating of quality of child’s primary-care provider 8.9
 Mean rating of quality of child’s acute care 8.6
 Mean rating of quality of child’s specialty provider 8.3
Parental satisfaction with child’s pediatric care
 Doctor never/sometimes asks how you are feeling as parent 40 %
 Doctor never/sometimes understands how your prefer to raise child 27 %
 Doctor never/sometimes take time to understand child’s specific needs 21 %
 Doctor never/sometimes respect you are expert on your child 16 %
 Did not ask all questions I wanted to ask doctor 15 %
 Doctor didn’t spend enough time with child 14 %
 Would not recommend child’s healthcare provider to friends 24 %
Quality of life (mean PedsQL score)
 Total 91
 Physical functioning 93
 Social functioning 92
 Emotional functioning 86
 School functioning 85
  1. aThe denominator for each unmet healthcare need consists of only those parents responding that their child needed the particular category of care or service
  2. bOnly among parents who had limited English proficiency
  3. cIncludes physical therapy, medical equipment (such as wheelchairs), special-education services, or counseling
  4. dIncludes canes, crutches, wheelchairs, or scooters
  5. eSuch as G-tubes and nebulizer machines
  6. fAmong children who made any doctor visit
  7. gAmong children who made any preventive visit
  8. hAmong children who made any sick visit
  9. iAmong children who made any ED visit
  10. jAmong children who were hospitalized
  11. kAmong parents who missed any work due child’s illness
  12. lOn scale of 0-10, where 0 = worst and 10 = best
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International Journal for Equity in Health

ISSN: 1475-9276

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