Study finds significant connection between poverty, poor health care
A significant link exists between poverty and high healthcare needs, a report from Robin Hood finds.
Released in collaboration with Columbia University’s Center on Poverty and Social Policy and the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust, the first in a series of three Poverty Tracker reports, Health and Health Care in New York City (36 pages, PDF), found that more than two million New Yorkers have high healthcare needs and are more likely to live in poverty. Moreover, Black and Latinx New Yorkers are more likely to have high healthcare needs compared with white New Yorkers.
Defined as experiencing multiple chronic health conditions, a work-limiting health condition, and/or severe psychological distress, high healthcare needs are more likely to leave people with significant difficulty paying for necessary expenses such as food, medical care, and utilities. According to the report, over a five-year period, about 60 percent of those with high healthcare needs faced poverty in at least one year, and nearly 70 percent faced a material hardship in at least one year.
The report also found that high healthcare needs are correlated with levels of educational attainment. For example, 24 percent of New Yorkers who have at least a bachelor’s degree have high healthcare needs, while 43 percent of those who have only a high school diploma or who did not complete high school have high healthcare needs.
“The continuation of this study over time will be immensely helpful in understanding the challenges facing those with high health care needs, especially in these tumultuous years of the pandemic,” said Tracy Perrizo, who runs the Helmsley Trust’s New York City Program. “This initial report underscores the real and devastating correlation between poverty and chronic health problems for many New Yorkers. We see great promise in this research to learn more from the respondents about what helps them with health stability and to identify solutions for health care to better meet all patients’ needs.”
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