What socio-demographic factors influence poverty and financial health care access among disabled people in Flanders: a cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND: Current literature shows that people with a disability have a lower income than people without a disability. Disabled people often experience difficulties with health care access. The objective of this study is to assess the current financial situation and poverty rate amongst disabled people in Flanders. Furthermore we wanted to analyze factors that contribute to the risk of poverty and problems with financial health care access in adult people with a disability in Flanders. METHODS: An online and paper survey were constructed and made available through two large organizations for people with different types of disability in Flanders. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression analysis were performed. RESULTS: In this convenience sample, 20.9% of the 889 respondents live under the poverty threshold. Important contributing factors to the risk of poverty are having children (OR 3.43, 95% CI 2.10-5.59) and a low level of dependence (OR 16.40, 95% CI 6.21-43.28). 25.2% of the respondents did not access health care because of financial shortcomings. A low level of dependence is one important contributing factor (OR 3.16, 95% CI 1.41-6.98) to limited financial health care access. CONCLUSION: This research confirms that disability is associated with a higher risk of poverty and impaired financial health care access.