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Impact on ALICE
What do families do if they cannot afford health care?
For many ALICE households, doctor visits and medications are prohibitively expensive. Low-income families face problems with the cost of care and also with access to care, including long distances to providers, language and cultural barriers, transportation challenges, difficulty navigating health care systems, and difficulty making work and child care arrangements to accommodate health care appointments.8 Because these families have limited choices for accessing the care they need, they may try to:
Go Without Regular Care
ALICE families that can’t afford health care sometimes delay or go without regular care, including preventative services (checkups, vaccinations, and screenings), dental care (exams and cleanings), and mental health services.
ALICE families that can’t afford health care sometimes delay or go without regular care, including preventative services (checkups, vaccinations, and screenings), dental care (exams and cleanings), and mental health services.
Preventative Care
Young children below the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) are less likely than those in higher-income families to receive scheduled vaccines, and low-income adults are 14 to 26 percent less likely to receive cervical, breast, and prostate cancer screenings.9
Preventative Care
Young children below the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) are less likely than those in higher-income families to receive scheduled vaccines, and low-income adults are 14 to 26 percent less likely to receive cervical, breast, and prostate cancer screenings.9
Mental Illness in Children and teens
Untreated mental illness in children and teens has severe social and educational consequences:14
- 50% - Share of children with a mental illness who received treatment in 2017
- 37% - Share of students with mental health conditions at age 14 who drop out of school
- 70% - Share of youth in the juvenile justice system who have a mental illness
Find Affordable Insurance Coverage
ALICE families often have trouble finding or affording health insurance coverage, sometimes winding up with inadequate insurance or no coverage at all
- Getting insurance through an employer is often the best option, but many lower-wage jobs where ALICE works — especially in the service industry — do not offer health insurance.15
- Lower-cost Marketplace health plans have been available since 2014 through the ACA, but the plans that ALICE families can afford often have minimal coverage and high deductibles.
- Medicaid provides free health care coverage for many households in poverty, but many ALICE families earn too much to qualify at their state’s eligibility levels.16 And some households — 2.5 million uninsured adults in non-Medicaid-expansion states — have income above current Medicaid eligibility but below the lower limit for Marketplace premium tax credits. In addition, 25 percent of those eligible for Medicaid/CHIP nationwide were still not enrolled as of 2017.17
Percent of Workers With Insurance and Employer-Sponsored Insurance, by Income, U.S., 2017
Source: Kaiser Family Foundation. (2017). State health facts: Employer-sponsored coverage rates for the nonelderly by Federal Poverty Level (FPL).
ALICE families often have trouble finding or affording health insurance coverage, sometimes winding up with inadequate insurance or no coverage at all
- Getting insurance through an employer is often the best option, but many lower-wage jobs where ALICE works — especially in the service industry — do not offer health insurance.15
- Lower-cost Marketplace health plans have been available since 2014 through the ACA, but the plans that ALICE families can afford often have minimal coverage and high deductibles.
- Medicaid provides free health care coverage for many households in poverty, but many ALICE families earn too much to qualify at their state’s eligibility levels.16 And some households — 2.5 million uninsured adults in non-Medicaid-expansion states — have income above current Medicaid eligibility but below the lower limit for Marketplace premium tax credits. In addition, 25 percent of those eligible for Medicaid/CHIP nationwide were still not enrolled as of 2017.17
Percent of Workers With Insurance and Employer-Sponsored Insurance, by Income, U.S., 2017
Source: Kaiser Family Foundation. (2017). State health facts: Employer-sponsored coverage rates for the nonelderly by Federal Poverty Level (FPL).
Provide Caregiving for a Family Member
Nationwide, over 40 million people provide unpaid care for a loved one who is ill, frail, or has a physical or mental disability.25 This is one way of saving money, especially given the high costs of institutions such as assisted living facilities. However, such care can end up taking a physical, mental, and financial toll on caregivers.
Nationwide, over 40 million people provide unpaid care for a loved one who is ill, frail, or has a physical or mental disability.25 This is one way of saving money, especially given the high costs of institutions such as assisted living facilities. However, such care can end up taking a physical, mental, and financial toll on caregivers.
Move to a Healthier Community
When it comes to health, where we live matters. In a large-scale study of the health of nearly 45 million people in the U.S., researchers found that over 25 percent of diseases included in the study were influenced primarily by the environment in which people live.32 Social and economic factors (like education, employment, income, and community safety); characteristics of the physical environment (including housing and air/water quality); and proximity to care all affect health outcomes.33
When it comes to health, where we live matters. In a large-scale study of the health of nearly 45 million people in the U.S., researchers found that over 25 percent of diseases included in the study were influenced primarily by the environment in which people live.32 Social and economic factors (like education, employment, income, and community safety); characteristics of the physical environment (including housing and air/water quality); and proximity to care all affect health outcomes.33
Sources
8
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Hill, H. A., Elam-Evans, L. D., Yankey, D., Singleton, J. A., & Kang, Y. (2017, November 3). Vaccination coverage among children aged 19–35 months, 2016. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), 66(43), 1171–1177. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/66/wr/mm6643a3.htm#T2_down
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10
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11
CDC Foundation. (2015, January 28). Worker illness and injury costs U.S. employers $225.8 billon annually. Retrieved from https://www.cdcfoundation.org/pr/2015/worker-illness-and-injury-costs-us-employers-225-billion-annually
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13
U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions. (2012, February 29). Dental crisis in America: The need to expand access. A Report from Chairman Bernard Sanders, Subcommittee on Primary Health & Aging. Retrieved from http://www.sanders.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/DENTALCRISIS.REPORT.pdf
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16
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17
Kaiser Family Foundation. (2017). Distribution of eligibility for ACA health coverage among those remaining uninsured as of 2017. Retrieved from https://www.kff.org/health-reform/state-indicator/distribution-of-eligibility-for-aca-coverage-among-the-remaining-uninsured/?currentTimeframe=0&selectedDistributions=medicaidother-public-eligible&sortModel=%7B%22colId%22:%22Location%22,%22sort%22:%22asc%22%7D
18
DeLia, D., & Lloyd, K. (2014, July). Sources of variation in avoidable hospital use and cost across low-income communities in New Jersey. Rutgers Center for State Health Policy. Retrieved from http://www.cshp.rutgers.edu/downloads/10470.pdf
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19
Altman, D. (2019, April 15). For low-income people, employer health coverage is worse than ACA. Kaiser Family Foundation. Retrieved from https://www.kff.org/health-costs/perspective/for-low-income-people-employer-health-coverage-is-worse-than-aca/
20
Collins, S. R., Bhupal, H. K., & Doty, M. M. (2019). Health insurance coverage eight years after the ACA: Fewer uninsured Americans and shorter coverage gaps, but more underinsured. The Commonwealth Fund. Retrieved from https://www.commonwealthfund.org/sites/default/files/2019-02/Collins_hlt_ins_coverage_8_years_after_ACA_2018_biennial_survey_sb.pdf
21
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22
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23
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24
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25
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28
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29
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32
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36
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