• Mark X Cicero, Veronika Northrup, Fang-Yong Li, and Karen A Santucci.
• Yale New-Haven Children's Hospital, Emergency Department, 840 Howard Avenue, New Haven, CT 06504, USA. mark.cicero@yale.edu
• Conn Med. 2011 Jan 1; 75 (1): 37-42.

BackgroundWe assessed changes in household spending and opinions about health-care insurance reform among parents in the pediatric emergency department (PED) during the current recession.MethodsWe conducted a survey of parents at a PED. Enrollment was in June and July 2009. We assessed demographics, employment and insurance status, and difficulty paying for household expenses. Open-ended questions addressed attitudes about health-care reform.ResultsAmong 467 parents, job loss was associated with difficulty paying for food (OR 2.32, 95% CI 1.53-3.52), housing (3.21, 2.11-4.88), and utilities (2.19, 1.44-3.32). In total, 226 respondents cut household expenses. More respondents cut food expenses (20.8%) and utilities (15.8%) than child health care (12.0%). Of 154 respondents providing opinions about health-care reform, 66.9% endorsed reform, and 9.7% disagreed.ConclusionParents with job loss reported hardship paying for household expenses. One in eight families have cut child health-care expenses. A population of PED parents commonly favored health-care insurance reform.

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