Lack of Transportation Creates Barrier to Health Care for Low-Income Children, Study Finds

One of every five children from poor families has missed a doctor's appointment because of a lack of transportation, according to findings from a Children's Health Fund survey. The New York Times reports that the survey, which polled 903 families, found 20% of families earning below $15,000 per year had missed a doctor's appointment because of transportation problems, while about 9% of families earning up to $50,000 incurred the same problem. While Medicaid covers the cost of transportation, about 60% of parents with children enrolled in the program were "unaware of [the] subsidies." Dr. Irwin Redlener, president of the Children's Health Fund, which provides health care for low-income children, said, "Politically, the only thing on the table is insurance. There are barriers to care that ... [are] nonfiscal barriers -- things like transportation, language and cultural barriers, which interfere with a child's ability to get health care, even if the child is insured" (Sengupta, New York Times, 7/12).