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Listening to Californians with low incomes: health care access, experiences, and concerns since the COVID-19 pandemic
Listening to Californians with low incomes: health care access, experiences, and concerns since the COVID-19 pandemic
- Collection:
- Health Policy and Services Research
- Author(s):
- Joynt, Jen, author
Catterson, Rebecca, author
Rabinowitz, Lucy, author - Contributor(s):
- California HealthCare Foundation, issuing body.
- Publication:
- [Oakland, California] : California Health Care Foundation, October 2020
- Language(s):
- English
- Format:
- Text
- Subject(s):
- COVID-19
Delivery of Health Care
Poverty
Health Care Surveys
California
United States - Genre(s):
- Technical Report
- Abstract:
- The year 2020 has been a tumultuous one for all Californians, with the COVID-19 pandemic now dragging into its seventh month and causing significant impacts to the physical, emotional, and financial well-being of all residents, especially those with low incomes. Seven million Californians, or approximately 18% of the state's residents, are living in poverty. To better understand the health care experiences of residents with low incomes, the California Health Care Foundation and NORC at the University of Chicago, a national research organization, conducted a statewide survey of California's residents age 18 to 64 who had received health care since March 2019, with an oversampling of residents with low incomes. The survey, conducted in the summer of 2020, asked respondents about their health care concerns, experiences, and access before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as about their experiences with racial discrimination and the impact of the pandemic on employment and insurance coverage. This initial report highlights a collection of key findings from the survey, focusing on health care access, mental health, telehealth experiences, pandemic-related stresses, and experiences with racial discrimination. Findings in this report are presented for respondents with low incomes (defined as below 200% of the federal poverty level) compared to respondents with higher incomes (defined as 200% federal poverty level [FPL] or higher) whenever sample sizes are sufficient to allow this comparison. In cases where there is an insufficient sample size, overall findings are presented. The full report, to be released in early 2021, will detail complete findings on respondents' experiences with health and health care since the pandemic, including analyses of differences by a variety of demographics (including additional analyses by income, race, ethnicity, and insurance coverage and new analyses by region, gender, and language), as well as cross-tabular analysis of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on respondents. Key findings from the survey include: (1) A large portion of survey respondents who wanted care since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic have not received care. Thirty-one percent of respondents who wanted to see a provider for urgent or emergency care for a health problem unrelated to COVID-19 did not receive care for that problem, and over 40% did not receive care for a non-urgent physical health problem (44%) or a mental health problem (46%). (2) The COVID-19 pandemic has caused deteriorating mental health for many respondents. Over one-third of respondents (36%) with low incomes reported that their mental health got "worse" or "a lot worse" since the start of the pandemic in March 2020. More than two-thirds of respondents with low incomes (68%) who wanted to see a provider for health care since the start of the pandemic wanted care for a mental health problem. (3) Telehealth has become an integral source of care for Californians. Among respondents who received care during the pandemic, 62% of respondents overall, 65% of respondents with low incomes, and 76% of respondents of color received a telehealth (phone or video) visit. Most respondents reported positive experiences with telehealth, including large majorities of respondents with low incomes and respondents of color. For example, among respondents with low incomes, 71% reported they would always like the option for phone or video visits, and 63% reported that they would likely choose a phone or video visit over an in-person visit whenever possible. (4) Ninety-four percent of Latinx respondents reported experiencing at least one stress related to COVID-19. Concern about the health or well-being of a loved one was the most reported COVID-19-related stress for Latinx respondents (56%) followed by children out of school or childcare unavailable (41%) and affording basic needs (35%). (5) Nationwide racial unrest in 2020 has brought long overdue attention to racial discrimination and highlighted the need to understand the impacts of racism on the health of Californians of color. Nearly 7 in 10 Black respondents (69%) reported having ever personally experienced discrimination or being treated unfairly because of their race or ethnicity.
- Copyright:
- Reproduced with permission of the copyright holder. Further use of the material is subject to CC BY-NC-ND license. (More information)
- Extent:
- 1 online resource (1 PDF file (36 pages))
- Illustrations:
- Illustrations
- NLM Unique ID:
- 101775678 (See catalog record)
- Permanent Link:
- http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/101775678