Financial burden for families of children with special health care needs.
OBJECTIVE
We describe family finance-related burden experienced by families with children with special health care needs (CSHCN). The paper further seeks to describe correlates of family financial burden.


METHODS
We examined correlates of family finance-related burden using multivariate methods and the National Survey of CSHCN, a nationally representative cross-sectional survey of CSHCN. We also examined state-level correlations.


RESULTS
Fully 40% of families with CSHCN, or 3,746,000 families nation-wide, experience financial burden related to their child's condition. Experiencing a finance-related problem is negatively associated with Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB) indicators and positively associated with poor-child health status. States that better meet MCHB indicators generally have lower levels of family finance-related problems.


CONCLUSIONS
Families with CSHCN have high levels of finance-related family problems. Development of appropriate systems of care appears to offer a mechanism for alleviating the financial burdens of these families.
Kuhlthau
Karen
K
Center for Child and Adolescent Health Policy, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA. kkuhlthau@partners.org
Hill
Kristen Smith
KS
Yucel
Recai
R
Perrin
James M
JM
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D017281:Cost of Illness; D019988:Children with Disabilities; D004467:Economics / Q000639:trends*; D005190:Family; D005260:Female; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D016017:Odds Ratio; D012923:Social Class; D014481:United States