Table 1.
Study variables and descriptive statistics (n = 1179)
| Percent | Mean (standard error) | |
|---|---|---|
| Outcome variables: measures of medical economic vulnerability | ||
| Medical debt over $1000a (objective measure) | 20.3 | |
| Confidence can pay for major health expenses without going into debtb (subjective measure) | ||
| Not at all or slightly confident | 55.5 | |
| Neutral | 12.9 | |
| Moderately or very confident | 31.7 | |
Independent variables: health insurance arrangements ( ) |
||
| Had health insurance for all household members all year | 92.5 | |
| All household has same plan | 73.1 | |
| Source of health insurance | ||
| Off-farm employment | 34.3 | |
| Direct purchase of private plan | 33.8 | |
| Age-based public health insurance | 21.3 | |
| Means-based public health insurance | 9.0 | |
| Farm Bureau or Farmers' Union | 5.2 | |
| Monthly insurance premium in 2016 | $750.80 ($833.40) | |
| Health insurance deductible | ||
| None | 9.2 | |
| $1 to $1999 | 31.0 | |
| $2000 to $5000 | 32.9 | |
| More than $5000 | 27.0 | |
| Out-of-pocket expenses | ||
| Up to $999 | 22.1 | |
| $1000 to $2999 | 26.1 | |
| $3000 to $4999 | 21.4 | |
| $5000 and over | 30.4 | |
| Health savings account | 22.8 | |
| Flexible spending account | 8.3 | |
Independent variables: farm individual ( ) and household ( ) |
||
| Pre-existing or chronic condition | 59.5 | |
| Age of respondent | 57.9 years (11.3 years) | |
| Children under 18 | 23.3 | |
| White, non-Hispanic/Latino | 95.7 | |
| Female | 38.7 | |
| Education | ||
| High school or less | 37.3 | |
| Some college | 20.8 | |
| Bachelor's degree and higher | 42.9 | |
| Off-farm job | 47.2 | |
| Beginning farmer | 7.7 | |
Independent variables: farm operation ( ) |
||
| Farm sales | ||
| Small | 39.7 | |
| Medium | 21.7 | |
| Large | 38.6 | |
| Multi-generational farm | 77.0 | |
| Commodity produced | ||
| Grain | 53.4 | |
| Livestock | 37.9 | |
| Dairy | 20.0 | |
| Fruits and vegetables | 13.8 | |
Independent variables: health insurance and labor market ( ) environments |
||
| State expanded Medicaid | 56.8 | |
| Number insurers on marketplace | 6.8 (3.3) | |
| Unemployment rate | 4.6 (2.0) |
aHaving a medical debt over $1000 is used as the outcome variable in the objective measure of medical economic vulnerability model (model 1) and as an independent variable in the subjective measure of medical economic vulnerability model (model 2)
bVariable is collapsed into a dummy variable for the bivariate and multivariate analysis (“Not confident could pay for major health expenses without debt” vs. “neutral or confident”)