"This scenario is not just low-income families. We found that many middle-income families, households earning between $24,000 and $75,000 annually couldn't afford the cost to insure their child," said principal investigator Jennifer DeVoe, an assistant professor of family medicine at the Oregon Health & Science University.

"It is almost deemed a luxury nowadays to have health insurance, which is a really sad fact," said one parent involved in the study, which analyzed data from a 2002 through 2005 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey -- Household Component.

The study, "Uninsured Children and Adolescents With Insured Parents" was published online in the Journal of the American Medical Association Tuesday and will be released in print Wednesday, an OHSU statement said.

DeVoe said the number of insured parents working full time who could not afford health insurance for their children gave her a sense of urgency. "We need to roll up our sleeves in this country and get to work reforming our system for everyone in the family," she said.