Government housing assistance has been linked to a reduction in financial hardship related to medical expenses among U.S. renters with a history of cancer, according to new research published in JAMA Network Open.
The study examined data from the National Health Interview Survey covering 2019 through 2023 and found that among approximately 2,370 adult renters with cancer, those who received government housing aid were nearly seven percentage points less likely to face medical financial hardship than those who did not. Specifically, recipients reported less difficulty paying medical bills and had fewer concerns about unexpected invoices. The study noted no significant difference between the two groups regarding missed or delayed care due to costs.
According to the lead author, an assistant professor-in-residence of medicine at UCLA Health, “At present, most eligible low-income households do not receive housing assistance due to limited program funding. Our analyses suggest that increasing access to federal housing assistance programs may be an important strategy for protecting the financial security of US cancer survivors amid the rising cost of cancer care.”
The research highlights that about one in eighteen Americans is a cancer survivor and notes that many U.S. renters are facing unaffordable housing costs as of 2024. Previous studies have established connections between high housing costs, cancer’s impact on health, and resulting financial strain for patients.
Among those surveyed in this study, 533 individuals (19.7%) reported receiving government housing assistance while 1,270 (59%) experienced some form of medical financial hardship. Those receiving aid were more likely to be racial or ethnic minorities, have lower incomes, be unemployed, and experience worse overall health.
The authors caution that there are limitations affecting their results such as uncertainty regarding patients’ stage or treatment history for cancer and when exactly they began receiving housing aid relative to their onset of financial difficulties.
However, they conclude that expanding access to these programs could help buffer vulnerable populations against the economic consequences associated with serious illness: “Given the known ties between cancer, financial hardship, quality of life, and health outcomes, expanding housing assistance could be an effective strategy to mitigate financial hardship and improve well-being among cancer survivors,” said senior author , professor of health economics at UCLA Health and director of the Cancer Health Economics Research Program at UCLA Health. “Cancer patients in households meeting the eligibility criteria for housing assistance are more vulnerable to financial hardship, and yet most eligible households do not receive housing assistance. This may require interventions to connect eligible patients to assistance, such as screening and referrals. For these interventions to succeed, it is critically important for policy advocacy to increase, or to at least maintain, government funding for assistance programs.”
The paper was co-authored by , chief of the . The research was funded by a grant from the National Institutes of Health/National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences UCLA Clinical and Translational Science Institute (UL1TR001881).
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