Housing Instability and Food Insecurity as Barriers to Health Care Among Low-Income Americans

The objective of the study was to determine whether having difficulty paying rent and obtaining food are associated with poor health outcomes. We studied 16,651 adults in low-income families and found that both housing instability (23.6%) and food insecurity (42.7%) are common. Taking into account other explanations, we found that both housing instability or food insecurity were associated with postponing both health care and medications and increased use of the emergency department and inpatient hospital. Housing instability was also associated with not having a regular place to get health care. It was concluded that people with housing instability and food insecurity have poor health care outcomes.