Table 2.
Association Between Patient Factors and Intensity of Medical Financial Hardship, Aged 18–64 years, 2015 to 2017 National Health Interview Survey
| No financial hardship | One domain | Two or three domains | P value | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weighted % | 95% CI | Weighted % | 95% CI | Weighted % | 95% CI | ||
| Current age | < 0.0001 | ||||||
| 18–34 | 41.7 | (40.7, 42.6) | 30.7 | (29.8, 31.6) | 27.6 | (26.7, 28.5) | |
| 35–44 | 35.5 | (34.4, 36.6) | 33.8 | (32.7, 34.8) | 30.7 | (29.8, 31.7) | |
| 45–54 | 37.4 | (36.3, 38.4) | 33.6 | (32.6, 34.6) | 29.0 | (28.0, 30.0) | |
| 55–64 | 43.6 | (42.5, 44.7) | 32.8 | (31.7, 33.8) | 23.7 | (22.8, 24.6) | |
| Sex | < 0.0001 | ||||||
| Male | 43.6 | (42.8, 44.4) | 32.4 | (31.7, 33.1) | 24.0 | (23.3, 24.6) | |
| Female | 36.3 | (35.6, 37.0) | 32.5 | (31.8, 33.1) | 31.2 | (30.5, 31.9) | |
| Race/ethnicity | < 0.0001 | ||||||
| Non-Hispanic white | 40.7 | (40.1, 41.4) | 31.4 | (30.8, 32.0) | 27.9 | (27.3, 28.5) | |
| Other | 38.5 | (37.5, 39.5) | 34.3 | (33.5, 35.1) | 27.2 | (26.4, 28.0) | |
| Current marital status | < 0.0001 | ||||||
| Married/living as married | 40.6 | (39.9, 41.3) | 32.7 | (32.1, 33.4) | 26.7 | (26.0, 27.4) | |
| Other | 39.1 | (38.3, 39.8) | 32.3 | (31.6, 33.0) | 28.7 | (28.0, 29.3) | |
| Educational attainment | < 0.0001 | ||||||
| < High school graduate | 34.5 | (33.2, 35.9) | 33.5 | (32.1, 34.9) | 32.0 | (30.7, 33.3) | |
| High school graduate | 36.4 | (35.3, 37.6) | 35.0 | (33.9, 36.1) | 28.6 | (27.6, 29.6) | |
| Some college or more | 42.0 | (41.3, 42.7) | 31.8 | (31.2, 32.4) | 26.2 | (25.6, 26.8) | |
| Current insurance status* | < 0.0001 | ||||||
| 18–64 years, private only | 43.6 | (42.9, 44.4) | 33.2 | (32.6, 33.8) | 23.2 | (22.5, 23.8) | |
| 18–64 years, some public | 40.9 | (39.5, 42.3) | 32.5 | (31.2, 33.8) | 26.5 | (25.4, 27.6) | |
| 18–64 years, uninsured | 17.9 | (16.8, 19.1) | 29.3 | (28.0, 30.6) | 52.8 | (51.1, 54.4) | |
| Condition count† | < 0.0001 | ||||||
| 0 | 46.0 | (45.2, 46.8) | 33.0 | (32.3, 33.7) | 21.0 | (20.3, 21.6) | |
| 1 | 37.9 | (36.9, 38.9) | 33.1 | (32.1, 34.1) | 29.0 | (28.1, 29.9) | |
| 2 | 32.7 | (31.4, 33.9) | 31.3 | (30.0, 32.6) | 36.0 | (34.7, 37.3) | |
| 3+ | 26.3 | (25.0, 27.6) | 28.0 | (26.5, 29.5) | 45.8 | (44.1, 47.4) | |
| Survey year | 0.3779 | ||||||
| 2015 | 39.6 | (38.7, 40.5) | 32.7 | (31.8, 33.5) | 27.7 | (27.0, 28.4) | |
| 2016 | 40.6 | (39.7, 41.5) | 32.0 | (31.2, 32.8) | 27.4 | (26.6, 28.3) | |
| 2017 | 39.4 | (38.4, 40.4) | 32.8 | (32.0, 33.7) | 27.8 | (26.8, 28.7) | |
N = 68,828. Data from the 2015–2017 National Health Interview Survey. The three domains included material, psychological, and behavioral financial hardship. Age, sex, race/ethnicity, marital status, educational attainment, insurance status, condition count, and survey year were adjusted in the regression. Italics type indicates statistical significance
FPL, federal poverty level; CI, confidence interval
*Public insurance included Medicare, Medicaid, and/or other government/public coverage
†The number of chronic conditions was defined as the sum of the following conditions that a respondent was ever told by a doctor or other health professional that s/he had arthritis, asthma, diabetes, emphysema, coronary heart disease, hypertension, stroke, angina pectoris, heart attack, high cholesterol, and cancer. Nonmelanoma skin cancer was not counted as a condition. Any cancer was measured as a single condition