This study might be a bit peripheral, but touches on why education in the hospital is important: parents and child may not get to the doctor's office.

Uninsured kids in middle class have same unmet needs as poor

Nationwide, uninsured children in families earning between $38,000 and $77,000 a year are just as likely to go without any health care as uninsured children in poorer families. More than 40 percent of children in those income brackets who are uninsured all year see no physicians and have no prescriptions all year, according to new research from the University of Rochester Medical Center.

“There’s an assumption that children in families with higher income levels don’t need insurance, that they are uninsured but are somehow still receiving health care anyway,” said Laura Shone, an assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Rochester Medical Center and author of the study.

“This study shows that in reality, a large percentage of these children don’t receive any care at all – which pediatricians say is unacceptable, and parents know is unrealistic. Even healthy, older children need to see their physicians at least once over the course of a year.”


Overall, almost 3 million uninsured children had no medical care and no prescription use for a full year, according to an analysis of nationally representative data from the 2004 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey.

The percentage of uninsured children who forego all health care for a full year is:
55 percent at 0 to 100 percent of the federal poverty level ($0 to $19,157 for a family of four)
51 percent at 101 to 200 percent of the federal poverty level ($19,158 to $38,314)
42 percent at 201 to 300 percent of the federal poverty level ($38,315 to $57,471)
44 percent at 301 to 400 percent of the federal poverty level ($57,472 to $76,628)
30 percent for those over 400 percent of the federal poverty level ($78,629 and above)