Division of Health Policy and Management, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.
Health Aff (Millwood). 2013 Jun;32(6):1054-62. doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.2012.1137.
The 2007-09 recession led to an overall slowing in health care spending growth, but it is unclear whether the slowed spending growth had different impacts on adults and children. Although most children are healthy, forgoing routine health care could have long-term adverse implications for public health. Furthermore, children with special health care needs are at risk of adverse outcomes if they do not receive adequate care. Focusing on privately insured families with children, we investigated how out-of-pocket spending trends changed before and during the recession. Medical Expenditure Panel Survey data from the period 2001-09 revealed that the recession did not affect out-of-pocket spending for most children, but it led to a decline in spending for children with special needs, who had much higher out-of-pocket spending at baseline. Adults had significantly lower out-of-pocket spending during the recession, which suggests that parents may reduce their own medical care in difficult economic times to meet their children's health care needs.
2007-09 年经济衰退导致医疗保健支出增长整体放缓，但尚不清楚放缓的支出增长对成年人和儿童的影响是否不同。尽管大多数儿童健康状况良好，但放弃常规医疗保健可能会对公共卫生产生长期不利影响。此外，如果儿童得不到足够的护理，他们有特殊医疗需求的儿童就会面临不良后果的风险。我们关注有孩子的私人保险家庭，研究了经济衰退前后自付支出趋势的变化。2001-09 年期间的医疗支出面板调查数据显示，经济衰退并没有影响大多数儿童的自付支出，但导致有特殊需要的儿童支出下降，这些儿童的自付支出在基线时就高得多。成年人在经济衰退期间的自付支出显著下降，这表明父母在困难时期可能会减少自己的医疗保健支出，以满足孩子的医疗保健需求。
