Parent-Child Insurance Coverage Dyad and Usual Source of Care in the United States

• In Event: Medical Sociology Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (90 minute): Table 22. Health Insurance

Abstract

Abstract
Health Insurance coverage is critical to healthcare access and health outcomes. Lack of insurance coverage is associated with increased health problems. Previous studies have shown that parents’ health insurance coverage is linked with reduced healthcare access for children. This study examines the main and interaction effects of child and parent insurance coverage on the child’s usual source of care using an actor-partner interdependence model.
I constructed a parent-child analytic file from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) 2024. From a 7,054 sample, the outcome (usual source of care) was coded as yes/no, and the predictors, children’s and parents’ insurance coverages, were coded as yes/no. The main and interaction effects were tested using the binary logistic regression.
The result showed that children with insurance coverage are more likely to have a usual source of care (OR = 21.45, CI = 7.29 – 63.12) than those without insurance coverage. However, parent insurance coverage is not statistically significant with having a usual source of care (p-value = 0.744). Furthermore, the interaction effect of child’s insurance coverage and parent’s insurance coverage showed a non-significant relationship with usual source of care (P-value =0.641).
Parent insurance coverage does not have a direct or indirect effect on having a usual source of care. Thus, prioritising automatic, continuous coverage for children is crucial to improving access to preventive health care and long-term health outcomes.

Keywords: Parent-child, insurance, coverage, dyad, usual source of care

Authors

• Seun Mauton Ajoseh, University of Florida

• Reyah V Patel, Health Sciences, University of Florida