Health: Confidence in the Ability to Get Children Medical Care

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One way of assessing how well the health care system is serving children is by determining how confident parents are that they can get medical care for their children when they need it. If the persistent number of children lacking health insurance or the growing concern about the rights of patients in managed care has undermined parents' confidence, the system may not be meeting children's needs.

Parents were asked to rate their confidence about getting medical care for their children when needed by choosing the phrase that best described their feeling. Those who chose "not confident at all" or "not too confident" were classified as not confident.

At the national level, 8 percent of children under age 18 had parents who were not confident that they could get necessary medical care. However, there was a considerable difference in confidence between families with low incomes (below 200 percent of the federal poverty level) and those with higher incomes. Only 4 percent of children in higher-income families had parents who were not confident of their ability to obtain needed medical care, compared to 14 percent of children in low-income families. This is a statistically significant difference.

There was little variation in confidence among higher-income families across the 13 states surveyed, and few states differed from the national average. The one that differed most was Florida, where 8 percent of children from higher-income families had parents who were not confident about their ability to get needed care.

Among low-income families, confidence in the ability to get needed medical care for children varied considerably more. In six states, low-income parents were less likely than the national average to lack confidence: Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Washington, and Wisconsin. In California, 18 percent of low-income children had parents with no confidence in their ability to get care, above the national average of 14 percent.

Note: The Portable Document Format (PDF) of this report includes all tables and charts.

The nonpartisan Urban Institute publishes studies, reports, and books on timely topics worthy of public consideration. The views expressed are those of the authors and should not be attributed to the Urban Institute, its trustees, or its funders.

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