Health Care
Access to affordable, high-quality, trauma-informed physical, mental, and behavioral health care is crucial for people of all ages, especially those in kinship families with disabilities or special needs. The Affordable Care Act has made significant strides in expanding healthcare access, ensuring that more families, including those in kinship arrangements, can receive the care they need. Key reforms, such as Medicaid expansion, protections for preexisting conditions, and the elimination of lifetime limits on essential health benefits, along with improved access to mental health services and increased subsidies for low- and middle-income families, have further strengthened its support for vulnerable populations.
Despite these advancements, the healthcare services available to kinship/grandfamilies remain insufficient and are often not adequately tailored to their unique needs. The COVID-19 pandemic further exacerbated these challenges, as many grandfamilies faced heightened health risks, disruptions to medical services, and increased mental health stressors due to isolation and caregiving burdens. These families, often led by elderly caregivers, found themselves particularly vulnerable to both the virus itself and the mental health toll of prolonged social isolation.
To close these gaps, it is essential to expand access to trauma-informed physical and mental health care, provide specialized mental health support during family separation and reunification, and offer targeted training and resources for healthcare providers to better serve grandfamilies. Additionally, opioid settlement funds can play a key role in addressing these challenges by funding programs that support the specific healthcare needs of grandfamilies affected by substance use, which have only been amplified by the ongoing effects of the pandemic.
Resources
Health Care Benefits for Children & Older Adults: The Affordable Care Act (PDF)
Families USA: The Voice for the Health Care Consumers
Kaiser Family Foundation
Family Matters: Public Policy and the Interdependence of Generations (PDF)
Healthcare.gov
2023 State of Grandfamilies Report