This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in JAMA

Brian Vastag

JAMA. 2002;288:1838.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 147 words of the full text and any section headings.

If just one member of a family does not have health insurance, it adversely affects the health, emotional well-being, and financial stability of the entire household, says a new report from the Institute of Medicine, Health Insurance Is a Family Matter. Roughly 58 million people in the United States are uninsured or live with a family member who is uninsured. The report, available online at http://www.nap.edu/catalog/10503.html, found that uninsured parents delay seeking care for themselves and their children. Uninsured children are less likely to have a regular source of primary care than insured children, and they use medical and dental services less often.

National data show that only 51% of uninsured children had a physician visit during the previous year, compared with 76% of insured children. On average, sick newborns without health coverage receive 2 fewer days of hospital care than those with insurance.