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News Release

Office of News and Information
Johns Hopkins University
3003 N. Charles Street, Suite 100
Baltimore, Maryland 21218-3843
Phone: (410) 516-7160 | Fax (410) 516-5251

August 1, 2001
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Glenn Small
(410) 516-6094
glenn@jhu.edu


Health Coverage for Low-Income Families
Those leaving welfare to work and the married and
working poor lack coverage.

An intensive survey of more than 2,400 low-income families in three U.S. cities shows that one side effect of welfare reform is that more families are going without health care coverage as they move into the workforce, something Congress had hoped to avoid.

"Work is basically a health insurance risk factor," said Ronald Angel, a professor and health policy analyst at the University of Texas' department of Sociology and Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs and lead author of the study, which is part of a larger four-year welfare reform study coordinated by The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

As part of the 1996 welfare reform legislation, Congress separated Medicaid from cash assistance payments, opened eligibility and provided additional federal funding to help states make sure people moving from welfare to work didn't suffer a loss of health insurance.

But based on the data from Boston, Chicago and San Antonio, as families move from welfare to work, they are losing Medicaid health care coverage, and private employer health care coverage is not filling the gap.

"The message that's being sent is, if you're poor and want health insurance coverage, don't get married. And don't leave welfare for work," said Andrew Cherlin, a sociologist at Johns Hopkins and the coordinator of Welfare, Children, and Families: A Three-City Study. "So we have to ask ourselves, are these the signals that we want to be giving to the working poor population?"

Angel said the problem is that, while Medicaid was separated from cash assistance, the program continued to be administered out of the same welfare offices. Application procedures can be complex and confusing. For Mexican- Americans, language and other barriers get in the way.

Based on the survey results, however, where you live also plays a role, as the states of Illinois and Massachusetts are doing a better job of helping provide Medicaid coverage to their low-income residents than Texas.

Of those who should be eligible to receive it, a far higher percentage in Boston than in San Antonio were receiving it, said Angel.

"Many children who qualify for Medicaid are not enrolled," the report states. "Possible barriers to enrollment may include misinformation or misunderstanding concerning the connection between Medicaid and the receipt of TANF, a complex application process that differs from state to state, or fears concerning citizenship and immigration status."

Low-income Mexican-American families were the least likely to be covered by health insurance in the three cities surveyed, said Angel. A full 27 percent of the Mexican- American children in the survey had no health insurance, compared to nine percent for Non-Hispanic whites and eight percent for African-Americans.

Health insurance coverage for Mexican-Americans was "lower everywhere," said Angel. "It probably has something to do with citizenship issues, but we can't prove it or document it for sure." Other possible barriers include language and transportation, he said.

The complete report can be found at the Three-City Study web site at: www.jhu.edu/~welfare/index.html.

To discuss this report with Ronald Angel call 512-232- 6315. To talk to Andrew Cherlin about this report or the Three-City Study, call 410-516-6094.


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