Share Of Family Income Research Articles

Racial trends in clinical preventive services use, chronic disease prevalence, and lack of insurance before and after the Affordable Care Act.

To compare the relative change in the use of clinical preventive services, prevalence of chronic disease, and share uninsured among White, Black, and Hispanic adults before and after the introduction of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Retrospective analysis using the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey of adults aged 18 to 64 years. The regression relies on a fully interacted set of indicator variables of each racial group by 3 time periods: 2005-2009, 2010-2013, and 2014-2018. Outcomes included indicators of mammography, colonoscopy, and lipid panel use. Several chronic conditions were examined, including diabetes, hyperlipidemia, hypertension, coronary heart disease, and mental health status. The final outcome variables examined health insurance (uninsured or not) and out-of-pocket spending as a share of family income. Regression models were used controlling for patient characteristics (age, income, education) and for a set of fully interacted indicator variables of race and time period. We tested for relative changes in White adults vs minority adults for each outcome variable. We used the Wald test (test command in Stata) to test for relative changes over time. We found reductions in baseline (pre-ACA) disparities over time in several of the measures between minority adults and White adults. This included greater growth in the use of mammograms and colonoscopies among minority populations. The results also saw relative reductions in hypertension, coronary heart disease, and fair or poor mental health. Finally, the share uninsured among Hispanic adults decreased at a faster rate than among White adults pre-ACA compared with the ACA period examined. The ACA is associated with a reduction in baseline differences in the use of some clinical preventive services, chronic disease prevalence, health insurance coverage, and out-of-pocket spending. Continued efforts to promote prevention and further expansions of coverage would appear to pay dividends.

A comparison between the effects of drug costs and share of family income on drug costs in determining drug price.

High health care and medication expenditures pose a financial burden on Americans seeking care. It is imperative to determine the role of affordability in influencing access to health care and medications.To investigate the association between financial burden and health care access by comparing the effects of absolute and relative financial burdens, measured by total health care/medication expenditure (Expenditure) and health care/medication expenditure as a share of annual family income (Expenditure Share), respectively.Delay in receiving health care services and delay in obtaining prescription medications.A cross-sectional analysis of the 2017 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey using multivariate logistic regressions with Expenditure and Expenditure Share variables standardized to facilitate comparison.While both absolute and relative financial burdens were found to be positively associated with the outcomes, the relative measure had a significantly higher association that was about twice as much as the absolute one. For the outcome of delay in getting health care, the standardized odds ratios (OR) for health care expenditure and health care expenditure as a share of family income were 1.13 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.09–1.18) and 1.25 (95% CI = 1.20–1.32), respectively. For the outcome of delay in getting medications, the standardized OR for medication expenditure and medication expenditure as a share of family income were 1.11 (95% CI = 1.08–1.15) and 1.23 (95% CI = 1.18–1.29), respectively.The study illustrated the importance of including income in policy considerations intended to balance value, access, and affordability. Specifically, income should be included in measures assessing the value of medications.

Living on the edge: Assessing the economic impacts of potential disability benefit reductions for Social Security disability beneficiaries

BACKGROUND: Although Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits are an important source of support to many people with disabilities, modifications to programs are under consideration given current and projected governmental fiscal constraints. OBJECTIVE:To provide data about levels of safety net cross-participation among working age SSDI and SSI program participants and to estimate how changes to disability benefit levels might influence the economic security of beneficiaries. METHODS: Data from the 2012 Current Population Survey is used to describe income and resources, program participation, and the share of family income and supplemental poverty measure resources received through public disability benefits. Hypothetical benefit reductions are estimated to assess economic impacts on the beneficiary population. RESULTS:Cross-participation is high among beneficiaries. Reductions in disability benefit income would have the largest impact on those beneficiaries who are participating in other safety net programs, but may also influence the movement of a portion of the remaining beneficiaries onto additional programs. CONCLUSION: Any modification of SSA disability programs will require careful consideration of how other public programs and services, including those provided within the field of vocational rehabilitation, can best support the economic security of persons with disabilities.

Why do farmers quit from grain production in China? Causes and implications

PurposeThe number of farms engaged in grain production in China has been declining in recent years. Limited efforts have been devoted to examine why producers quit from grain production and how such exits affect China's grain output. Such information, however, is invaluable in understanding whether the exit from grain production should be encouraged and if so, how. The purpose of this paper is to identify the factors that influence farmers' decision to quit from grain production, with a view to drawing implications for devising policies to deal with such exits.Design/methodology/approachBoth descriptive statistics and econometric techniques are used to analyse a set of unique and comprehensive farm‐level survey data to identify key factors that affect farmers' decision to quit from grain production.FindingsKey factors that influence a farm to quit from, or stay in, grain production include: family size, the share of farming labour out of total family labour, per capita arable land, the proportion of land used for grain production, the share of family income from grains. It was also found that the level of grain prices and the sunk cost in farming, chiefly in grain production, also affect the likelihood that a household will stay or exit from grain production. Further, farmers in more economically developed regions are more likely to quit from grain production.Originality/valueThe paper's findings clearly indicate that farms with a larger scale of grain production and earning higher income from grain are the major contributors to China's grain production. Potential exists for China to raise its total grain output if the land from those exiting farmers is readily made available to larger producers, enabling them to further benefit from the economies of scale.

What is Affordable Community College Tuition?: Part II

The fiscal benefits that community colleges bring to the local, state, and national economies have long been the province of anecdote, conjecture, and debate, but important new work has taken much of the mystery and guesswork out of this question. We now know that the rate of return delivered on tax dollars spent to support community colleges is demonstrable and substantial across a wide variety of indicators. Community colleges create improvement in almost every measurable variable related to quality of life. “Affordable” tuition at America's community colleges will help our most financially disadvantaged citizens perhaps most dramatically, but it will also improve the quality of life for all of us—fostering economic growth, strengthening our position in the global marketplace, and providing the nation with better security because of improved economic stability. If we are willing to think about long-term economic growth and stability, providing affordable tuition at our nation's community colleges is a goal that makes sound economic and political sense. Tuition should be keyed to the share of family income required to pay for tuition at a public two-year college. This benchmark should be set in relation to federal poverty guidelines for the lowest wage-earning families in America.

Out-of-Pocket Health Spending Between Low- and Higher-Income Populations

We studied the effects of health insurance, health care needs, and demographic and area characteristics on out-of-pocket health care spending for low and higher income insured populations. We used the 2002 National Survey of America's Families to analyze out-of-pocket health spending. People were classified into 3 levels of expenses based on their out-of-pocket health care spending and 3 levels of financial burden based on spending as a share of family income. We used a multinomial logit model to estimate the effect of insurance status and other factors on expense and burden levels. Public insurance appears to offer the best financial protection from high out-of-pocket expenses and financial burden for those who are eligible. Families with private nongroup coverage have the highest odds of being in the high-expense and high-burden categories for all incomes. For higher-income families, having a family member in fair or poor health is a significant risk factor for high out-of-pocket expenses and financial burden. Having higher penetration of health maintenance organizations in an area appears to lower the odds of being in the high-burden category for all families. Health insurance may not prevent people from having high health care spending. Low-income people with serious health needs appear to be financially constrained and spend less on health care relative to higher-income people, and the presence of health maintenance organizations may help reduce out-of-pocket health care spending.

Child Labor in Bangladesh

This article uses data from the Bangladesh Labor Force Survey 2000 to analyze the magnitude, nature and determinants of child labor in Bangladesh. The magnitude of the ‘child labor’ problem is large in Bangladesh, with around 5.4–7.9 million, or about one-fifth of all Bangladeshi children between the ages of 5 and 14 years, being classified as child workers in 2000. Most of these child workers work in the agricultural sector. Among the poorest quintile of households, the share of family income contributed by child workers reaches nearly 50 percent. The article finds support for the widely-held hypothesis that poverty compels children to work. The analysis of links between adult employment and child labor also lends support to the hypothesis that children are the last economic resource of the household. Children are much more likely to work when they live in a household where the potential of income generation is low and where this potential has already been used up.

Women Produce Large Share of Family Income in America

Women Produce Large Share of Family Income in America