A large majority of the public (82%) believes that life has gotten better for people with disabilities in the last fifty years. However, six in ten adults say that people with disabilities have too little influence in our society today, compared with about a third (34%) who say these people have the right amount of influence, and 3% who say they have too much influence. In addition, about two-thirds (65%) say there is a lot or some discrimination against people with disabilities in this country today, and four in ten say that our health care system very or somewhat often treats people unfairly based on physical disability.
The public is generally supportive of policy measures to help people with disabilities, but these reforms are not usually at the top of the list of competing health priorities. More than nine in ten say they would strongly or somewhat support various health reforms related to funding for people with disabilities, including government funding for long-term care insurance and volunteer organizations that help those who need ongoing care, and tax breaks for people who provide unpaid care to disabled family members. Three-quarters say that helping families with the cost of long-term care for elderly or disabled family members is a very important issue for the President and Congress to deal with. However, when asked to choose the most important priority from a list of health care issues, about one in ten (11%) choose this as the most important, ranking behind lowering the cost of health insurance (25%), increasing the number of Americans covered by insurance (21%), and lowering the cost of prescription drugs (15%).
Health Care Experiences of Non-elderly People With Disabilities
Not surprisingly, people with disabilities report fairly heavy use of health care services. Nine in ten non-elderly adults with disabilities say that they have been to a doctor’s office or clinic at least once in the last six months, including about one in five (19%) who report more than ten doctor visits. In addition, one-third (33%) say they have been to an emergency room at least once in the last six months, and nearly nine in ten (88%) say they are currently taking prescription drugs.
Many non-elderly adults with disabilities report having trouble accessing and paying for health care. A quarter say that they have had trouble finding a doctor who understands their disability in the last year; one in six say that a doctor would not accept their health insurance; and significant minorities say they have had serious problems paying for certain health care services in the past year, including prescription drugs (30%), dental care (29%), doctor visits (22%), hospital care (15%), medical equipment (12%), home care services (12%), and mental health care (11%).
Large majorities of non-elderly people with disabilities say that a variety of potential policy priorities are very important for the government to work on. When asked to choose the most important policy priority, four in ten (41%) say that improving prescription drug coverage for people with disabilities is the most important, followed by about a quarter (26%) who say the most important priority should be making it easier for people with disabilities to work and keep their health and disability benefits.
Note: while this last section includes a brief summary of survey data that show some of the experiences of the people with disabilities, it is not a comprehensive analysis of the problems people with disabilities face in accessing care. For more resources from the Medicare Policy Project, see the following reports:
The Role of Health Coverage for People with Disabilities, December 2003 http://www.kff.org/medicare/121203package.cfm
Medicaid’s Role for People with Disabilities, October 2003 http://www.kff.org/medicaid/4027.cfm
Kaiser/Newshour Survey on Nursing Homes, October 2001 http://www.kff.org/kaiserpolls/103101pkg.cfm
