Gaps In Health Insurance Coverage Research Articles

Impact of Socioeconomic Factors and Health Insurance Coverage on Out-of-Pocket Health Expenditure among Ghanaian Women: Implications for Health Financing Policy

Background. The cost of health financing is an age-long social challenge in resource-constrained settings. Out-of-pocket (OOP) health spending adversely affects maternal healthcare provisions and use, making health insurance one of the most effective social interventions. Objective. The purpose of this research was to study the effect of OOP health expenditure on socioeconomic factors and health insurance coverage among Ghanaian women. Materials and Methods. Secondary statistical data pulled out from Ghana Demographic and Health Survey (GDHS)—2014 was investigated. A sample of 9,396 women whose ages ranged from 15 to 49 years was studied. We used marginal predictive model to examine the interaction effect between socioeconomic factors and health insurance coverage on OOP health expenditure. The significance level was determined at 5%. Results. Overall, about 41.9% (95% CI: 39.4%−44.4%) of Ghanaian women reported OOP health expenditure for drugs and services. Amongst those covered by health insurance, this was 37.9% (95% CI: 35.3%−44.4%). The marginal interaction effects of OOP health expenditure were higher for women in the lowest neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage group (42.6%) than those in the highest neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage group (26.0%) who were covered by health insurance. In addition, the marginal interaction effects of OOP health expenditure were found to be greater among women who had higher education (43.8%) compared with those who had no formal education (34.0%) who were covered by health insurance. Furthermore, the marginal interaction effects of OOP health expenditure were higher for rural (39.0%), than their urban counterpart (36.6.0%) who were under the covering of health insurance. Conclusion. There is a gap in health insurance coverage, which leads to increased OOP health expenditure. The OOP health expenditure effect was more concentrated among high socioeconomic women with health insurance. The healthcare system’s stakeholders should implement policies aimed at eliminating OOP health expenditure for maternal health services.

The Effect of Health Insurance Status on School Attendance.

Introduction Educational achievement is impacted by a student's ability to be present and motivated in the classroom. Since health and education influence one another, disparities in health insurance status amongchildren may exert educationally relevant consequences. However, the association between health insurance coverage and school absenteeism remains poorly understood. Our study aims to assess the association between not having/having gaps in health insurance coverage and an increased number of missed school days. Methods A historical cohort study was performed via secondary analysis of data collected as part of the 2018 National Survey of Children's Health (NSCH). We included children enrolled in school between the ages of 6-17 yearsand who provided answers to survey questions involving our two variables of interest: health insurance status and missed school days. Our data analysis included 1) a descriptive analysis of the baseline sample characteristics, 2) a bivariate analysis to determine the association between baseline characteristics/confounding variables and the outcome, and 3) a multivariable regression analysis using logistic regression to determine the association of interest while controlling for potential confounding variables. Results A total of 21,498 respondents were included. The unadjusted odds of chronic absenteeism were found to be 16% (OR=1.16) higher in children without insurance or with gaps in insurance compared to children with consistent insurance throughout the year, but the association was not statistically significant (95% CI 0.74 - 1.82, p=0.051). After adjustment by age, sex, race, Hispanic ethnicity,and confounding variables, the odds of chronic absenteeism in children without insurance or with gaps in insurance remained statistically insignificant (aOR=1.05; 95% CI 0.64 - 1.73, p=0.848) compared to those with consistent insurance coverage. Conclusions According to our analysis, the data do not support our hypothesis of a significant difference in missed school days (greater than or equal to 11 missed days of school) among those children who had health insurance compared to those without health insurance/had gaps in insurance coverage.

Unmet needs for vision care among children with gaps in health insurance coverage

Access to vision care is essential for diagnosing and treating vision impairments. Gaps in health insurance coverage may prevent children from receiving vision care and lead to unmet needs for vision services. This study used deidentified data on children 3-17 years of age from the 2016-2019 National Survey of Children's Health. The primary outcome was caregiver-reported unmet needs for vision care in the previous 12 months. Based on a sample of 106,876 children, 3.8% of US children had a recent gap in coverage, and 5.0% lacked insurance in the entire year leading up to the survey. The estimated population prevalence of caregiver-reported unmet needs for vision care was 0.7%. However, children with gaps in coverage had almost 19-fold higher odds of having caregiver-reported unmet vision care needs (OR = 18.7; 95% CI, 11.5-30.2; P < 0.001), and children with a complete lack of coverage also had a ninefold higher odds of caregiver-reported unmet vision care needs (OR = 9.5; 95% CI, 5.5-16.4; P < 0.001), compared to children with year-round private coverage. In the 2018-2019 data, results were similar when analyzing completion of routine vision testing within the past 12 months. Children with gaps in coverage had the highest likelihood of caregiver-reported unmet vision care needs compared with children with year-round coverage or children with year-round lack of coverage.

Short- and Long-Term Health Consequences of Gaps in Health Insurance Coverage among Young Adults.

In cross-sectional data, gaps in health insurance coverage are associated with worse health and lower utilization of preventive services. The authors investigated if these associations persisted 2-6 years after disruption of insurance coverage in a cohort of young adults. Data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997, a longitudinal cohort study of participants who were ages 13-17 years in 1997, were analyzed. Annual interview data from 2007 through 2017 were included and analyzed in 2021. Health outcomes (general self-rated health, annual preventive care use, and work-related health limitations) in each year were regressed on insurance coverage status, classified as: continuous private coverage, continuous public coverage, gap in coverage, or year-round lack of coverage. In a series of models, insurance coverage status was lagged by 2, 4, or 6 years to capture long-term associations with health outcomes. The analytic sample included 8197 young adults contributing 49,580 observations. Contemporaneous gaps in coverage were associated with 17% lower odds of reporting better self-rated health (odds ratio [OR]: 0.83, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.78, 0.88; P < 0.001), compared to year-round private insurance. This association remained similar when the insurance covariate was lagged 2, 4, or 6 years (eg, 6-year lagged OR: 0.82; 95% CI: 0.72, 0.93; P = 0.002). Results were similar for preventive care use and work-related health limitation. Among young adults, gaps in coverage are adversely associated with health status and health care utilization up to 6 years later. Policy efforts should target insurance continuity during this life course stage.

Supporting youth mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Supporting youth mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Federal Out-of-Network Balance Billing Legislation: Context and Implications for Radiology Practices.

Out-of-network (OON) balance billing, commonly known as surprise billing but better described as a surprise gap in health insurance coverage, occurs when an individual with private health insurance (vs a public insurer such as Medicare) is administered unanticipated care from a physician who is not in their health plan's network. Such unexpected OON care may result in substantial out-of-pocket costs for patients. Although ending surprise billing is patient centric, patient protective, and noncontroversial, passing federal legislation was challenging given its ability to disrupt insurer-physician good-faith negotiations and thus impact in-network rates. Like past proposals, the recently passed No Surprises Act takes patients out of the middle of insurer-physician OON reimbursement disputes, limiting patients' expense to standard in-network cost-sharing amounts. The new law, based on arbitration, attempts to protect good-faith negotiations between physicians and insurance companies and encourages network contracting. Radiology practices, even those that are fully in network or that never practiced surprise billing, could nonetheless be affected. Ongoing rulemaking processes will have meaningful roles in determining how the law is made operational. Physician and stakeholder advocacy has been and will continue to be crucial to the ongoing evolution of this process. © RSNA, 2021.

Inequalities in out-of-pocket health expenditure among women of reproductive age: after-effects of national health insurance scheme initiation in Ghana

BackgroundImprovement in maternal healthcare is a public health priority. Unfortunately, in spite of the efforts made over time regarding universal coverage, there remain issues with accessibility and use of healthcare services up to now. In this study, we examined inequalities in out-of-pocket health expenditure among women of reproductive age in Ghana. We analyzed secondary data collected in Ghana Demographic and Health Survey (GDHS) - 2014. A total of 9,002 women of reproductive age were included in this study. Lorenz curves and the concentration index were used to examine neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage inequalities in out-of-pocket expenditure for maternal healthcare utilizationResultsAbout two thirds (66.0%) of women of reproductive age in Ghana were covered by health insurance. In sum, women of high neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage status had the least out-of-pocket expenditure for total healthcare utilization, laboratory investigations, antenatal care visits, post-natal care visits, care for new born for up to 3 months, and other healthcare services. The converse was however true for family planning service utilization. Using Concentration Index, we quantified the degree of neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage inequalities in healthcare service utilizations.ConclusionThis study showed a gap in health insurance coverage among women of reproductive age. There were also inequalities in out-of-pocket expenditure for healthcare services utilization. It is expedient for stakeholders in the healthcare system to make policies targeted at bridging the neighborhood socioeconomic differences in maternal healthcare use and develop programs to improve women’s financial protection. Moreover, enlightenment on health insurance availability and coverage should focus on women at risk of out-of-pocket expenditure.

Infants without health insurance: Racial/ethnic and rural/urban disparities in infant households' insurance coverage.

In order to gain insights into how the effects of the uneven adoption of Medicaid expansion varies across the rural/urban spectrum and between racial/ethnic groups in the United States, this research used the fertility question in the 2011–2015 American Community Survey to link infants’ records to their mothers’ household health insurance status. This preliminary exploration of the Medicaid expansion used logistic regression to examine the probability that an infant will be born without health insurance coverage. Overall, the states that adopted Medicaid expansion improved the health insurance coverage for households with infants. However, rural households with infants report lower percentages of coverage than urban households with infants. Furthermore, the rural/urban gap in health insurance coverage is wider in states that adopted the Medicaid expansion. Additionally, Hispanic infants remain significantly less likely to have health insurance coverage compared to Non-Hispanic White infants. Understanding infant health insurance coverage across ethnic/racial groups and the rural/urban spectrum will become increasingly important as the U.S. population transitions to a minority-majority and also becomes more urban. Although not a perfect solution, our findings showed that the Medicaid expansion of health insurance coverage had a mainly overall positive effect on the percentage of U.S. households with infants who have health insurance coverage.

Disparities in Health Insurance Coverage and Access to Care by English Language Proficiency in the USA, 2006-2016.

In the USA, people with limited English proficiency (LEP) disproportionately experience gaps in health insurance coverage and access to care. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) of 2010 included reforms that could improve these outcomes. To describe changes in insurance coverage and access to health care by English language proficiency over 2006-2016. We used regression models to estimate changes in coverage and access after 2010 for adults with high vs. limited English proficiency, adjusting for socio-economic status, demographic characteristics, and health care needs. We used difference-in-differences models to assess adjusted changes in disparities by English proficiency after 2010. Supplemental analyses used nearest-neighbor propensity score matching to balance the characteristics of respondents. Respondents aged 18-64 in the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey over 2006-2016, with high (n = 174,214) or limited (n = 16,484) English language proficiency. Insurance coverage was a binary variable indicating any health insurance coverage during the past 12months. Access to care was measured using binary variables indicating whether the respondent had a usual source of care and received necessary medical, dental, and preventive care. Gains in health insurance coverage after 2010 were significant for adults with high English proficiency (1.7 percentage points, p < 0.001) and adults with limited English proficiency (4.6 percentage points, p = 0.007); gains did not significantly vary by English proficiency. Adults with LEP showed larger improvements than adults with high English proficiency in having a usual source of care (5 percentage points, p = 0.007) and receiving needed medical care and dental care (1.4 percentage points, p = 0.013, and 2.8 percentage points, p = 0.009, respectively). Findings remained similar when matching was used to balance the measured characteristics of respondents with high vs. limited English proficiency. Disparities in health care access by English proficiency narrowed after 2010, the year of passage of the ACA.

Effects of Home Visiting Program Implementation on Preventive Health Care Access and Utilization: Results from a Randomized Trial of Healthy Families Oregon.

Home visiting programs are an increasingly popular mechanism for providing a broad set of early prevention supports to high-risk families. A key intended outcome for these programs is to support maternal and child health by helping families increase access to and use of preventive health care services. For many community-based home visiting programs, however, there is less evidence of positive outcomes in the health care domain. The current study used a randomized trial conducted in a statewide early childhood home visiting program, Healthy Families Oregon (HFO), to examine program impacts on families' use of preventive health care services. The study recruited a large sample of participants (n= 1438 HFO families and n= 1289 controls) and utilized state agency health insurance and medical records as the primary data source. There were challenges in providing services in alignment with an intent-to-treat research design, leading to the need to take alternative approaches to analyzing effects of service receipt on outcomes. Results found that while there were no significant differences in health care access or utilization in the intent-to-treat models, positive outcomes were found when propensity score matching was used to limit the program sample to those who actually received services. Further, within the program group, children who were enrolled for longer had fewer gaps in health insurance coverage and received more well-baby visits and immunizations compared to those with less service. The role of the home visitor in helping families navigate the complexities of publicly funded health care is discussed. Investments in professional development strategies that can increase staff expertise in this area and improve family retention may be needed to more effectively achieve intended health outcomes.

Gaps in health insurance coverage and emergency department use among children with asthma

Background: Gaps in health insurance coverage may complicate asthma management and increase emergency department (ED) use. Using two nationally-representative surveys, we characterize the prevalence of coverage gaps among children with asthma, and describe their association with ED visits in this population. Methods: De-identified data were obtained from the 2016 National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH) and National Health Interview Survey (NHIS). Among children with asthma, we classified coverage over the past year as: (1) continuous private, (2) continuous public, (3) gap in coverage, and (4) continuously uninsured. The primary outcome was all-cause ED visits in the past year (both surveys). Secondary outcomes included unmet health care needs (NSCH), asthma-related ED visits or hospitalizations (NHIS) and asthma exacerbations (NHIS). Results: The analysis included 3739 (NSCH) and 854 (NHIS) children with asthma, representing a population of 5.5 million children in the US. Estimated prevalence of coverage gaps was 5% in the NSCH and 3% in the NHIS. On multivariable ordinal logistic regression using NSCH data, coverage gaps were associated with increased all-cause ED use (OR = 2.5; 95% CI: 1.3, 4.7, p = 0.005), compared to continuous private coverage. Further analysis confirmed higher odds of unmet health care needs, asthma exacerbations, and asthma-related ED visits among children with coverage gaps. Conclusions: Children with asthma who experience insurance coverage gaps have increased ED use, possibly related to poorer access to appropriate health care. Protecting insurance coverage continuity may reduce ED use and improve clinical outcomes in this population.

Housing Instability and Children's Health Insurance Gaps

ObjectiveTo assess the extent to which housing instability is associated with gaps in health insurance coverage of preschool-age children. MethodsSecondary analysis of data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study—Birth Cohort, a nationally representative study of children born in the United States in 2001, was conducted to investigate associations between unstable housing—homelessness, multiple moves, or living with others and not paying rent—and children's subsequent health insurance gaps. Logistic regression was used to adjust for potentially confounding factors. ResultsTen percent of children were unstably housed at age 2, and 11% had a gap in health insurance between ages 2 and 4. Unstably housed children were more likely to have gaps in insurance compared to stably housed children (16% vs 10%). Controlling for potentially confounding factors, the odds of a child insurance gap were significantly higher in unstably housed families than in stably housed families (adjusted odds ratio 1.27; 95% confidence interval 1.01–1.61). The association was similar in alternative model specifications. ConclusionsIn a US nationally representative birth cohort, children who were unstably housed at age 2 were at higher risk, compared to their stably housed counterparts, of experiencing health insurance gaps between ages 2 and 4 years. The findings from this study suggest that policy efforts to delink health insurance renewal processes from mailing addresses, and potentially routine screenings for housing instability as well as referrals to appropriate resources by pediatricians, would help unstably housed children maintain health insurance.

Impact of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act: Overview.

The intent of this supplemental online issue of the American Journal of Public Health is to provide a broad view of various topics pertaining to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), its implementation, its effect, and problems that remain to be addressed. The articles included here are successful in achieving this goal. As would be expected, many of the articles focus on the impact of the ACA on particular vulnerable populations, but there is also discussion of the need for public education on what is available and on what remains to be done to fill in remaining gaps in health insurance coverage. The article by Greer and Mendez1 provides an international context for the ACA and provides a perspective that is relevant to the controversies that have surrounded the ACA. This article reminds us that universal health coverage, a goal that the ACA moves toward but does not fully achieve, is redistributive, tends to be favored by left-leaning parties, and is very difficult to take away once it has been provided.

ReCAP: Gaps in Insurance Coverage for Pediatric Patients With Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia.

Continuous insurance coverage is an important component of effective health care. Evaluation of insurance gaps in pediatric cancer care is an understudied area. We conducted a retrospective analysis of payer data from outpatient oncology encounters at Primary Children's Hospital (Salt Lake City, UT) over the first 2 years of therapy for pediatric patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia diagnosed from 1998 to 2010 (N = 380). Using logistic regression, we evaluated demographic and clinical predictors (age at diagnosis, sex, ethnicity, high/standard acute lymphoblastic leukemia risk, and rural/urban county of residence at diagnosis) of a gap in health insurance. The median age at diagnosis was 4 years (interquartile range, 3 to 8 years), and 172 patients (45%) were girls. In the first 2 years of treatment, 45 patients (12%) experienced a gap in health insurance. The odds of having a gap in insurance coverage decreased by 16% each year from 1998 to 2010 (odds ratio, 0.84; 95% CI, 0.76 to 0.93; test for trend, P = .001). Public insurance at diagnosis was associated with a four-fold increased likelihood of experiencing an insurance gap (odds ratio, 4.09; 95% CI, 1.98 to 8.44; P < .001) compared with patients with private insurance at diagnosis. Gaps in insurance coverage during pediatric cancer treatment are not uncommon, which highlights the importance of discussing insurance status at diagnosis and throughout a patient's treatment course to help patients and their families prepare for any changes and avoid unnecessary financial burden. Future research should focus on examining the effect of insurance gaps on patient outcomes and evaluating likelihood of gaps in insurance after health care reform.

Testing health information technology tools to facilitate health insurance support: a protocol for an effectiveness-implementation hybrid randomized trial.

BackgroundPatients with gaps in health insurance coverage often defer or forgo cancer prevention services. These delays in cancer detection and diagnoses lead to higher rates of morbidity and mortality and increased costs. Recent advances in health information technology (HIT) create new opportunities to enhance insurance support services that reduce coverage gaps through automated processes applied in healthcare settings. This study will assess the implementation of insurance support HIT tools and their effectiveness at improving patients’ insurance coverage continuity and cancer screening rates.Methods/designThis study uses a hybrid cluster-randomized design—a combined effectiveness and implementation trial—in community health centers (CHCs) in the USA. Eligible CHC clinic sites will be randomly assigned to one of two groups in the trial’s implementation component: tools + basic training (Arm I) and tools + enhanced training + facilitation (Arm II). A propensity score-matched control group of clinics will be selected to assess the tools’ effectiveness. Quantitative analyses of the tools’ impact will use electronic health record and Medicaid data to assess effectiveness. Qualitative data will be collected to evaluate the implementation process, understand how the HIT tools are being used, and identify facilitators and barriers to their implementation and use.DiscussionThis study will test the effectiveness of HIT tools to enhance insurance support in CHCs and will compare strategies for facilitating their implementation in “real-world” practice settings. Findings will inform further development and, if indicated, more widespread implementation of insurance support HIT tools.Trial registrationClinical trial NTC02355262

Maximizing Health Care Enrollment Through Seamless Coverage for Families in Transition: Current Trends and Policy Implications

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) builds on the employment-based health insurance system which is the bedrock of health insurance coverage for most Americans. When these Americans experience a change in their work or family lives, they are at risk for losing their job-based health insurance coverage. The health insurance exchanges established by the ACA provide an unprecedented opportunity to address one of the major sources of gaps in health insurance coverage: transitions in life that result in the loss of health insurance. The uninsured population is not static. Many people who are uninsured cycle in and out of coverage over a short period of time. One-half to two-thirds of those who are uninsured in any given year move into or out of coverage in that year. Even short bouts of uninsurance can have important health impacts due to lack of care.Many who are intermittently uninsured are experiencing a work or life transition that also involves a loss of income, divorce or separation, loss of dependent status, disability or death of a family member.These individuals in transition are likely to make up a significant portion of those eligible for the new health insurance exchanges. In Massachusetts, approximately one-quarter of individual market participants in the Massachusetts “Health Connector” the state’s health exchange, enrolled and terminated their coverage within 12 months. How transitional coverage is handled will play a major role in whether the ACA is successful in expanding and stabilizing health coverage. In order to be successful in enrolling the uninsured, the exchange should be designed to maintain continuous coverage for individuals undergoing life transitions. Understanding the triggers to uninsurance provides an important window into how people who are in life transitions can be reached and enrolled into the exchange before or when they lose other sources of coverage.

37. Uninsurance Among Young Adults Following Four Years of College

In the US, young adults are the most likely age group to be uninsured. Gaps in health insurance coverage commonly occur during career and life transitions. Although it affects millions annually, little is known about the continuity of health insurance coverage as young adults transition from college. This study aimed to: (1) estimate the prevalence of being uninsured and the sociodemographic correlates of uninsurance among young adults after completion of 4 years of college; and (2) examine the relationship of insurance coverage with health status and health-risk behaviors.

Racial Gaps in Child Health Insurance Coverage in Four South American Countries: The Role of Wealth, Human Capital, and Other Household Characteristics

OBJECTIVE. To evaluate the extent of racial gaps in child health insurance coverage in South America and study the contribution of wealth, human capital, and other household characteristics to accounting for racial disparities in insurance coverage. DATA SOURCES/STUDY SETTING. Primary data collected between 2005 and 2006 in 30 pediatric practices in Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, and Chile. DESIGN. Country-specific regression models are used to assess differences in insurance coverage by race. A decomposition model is used to quantify the extent to which wealth, human capital, and other household characteristics account for racial disparities in insurance coverage. DATA COLLECTION/EXTRACTION METHODS. In-person interviews were conducted with the mothers of 2,365 children. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS. The majority of children have no insurance coverage except in Chile. Large racial disparities in insurance coverage are observed. Household wealth is the single most important household-level factor accounting for racial disparities in coverage and is significantly and positively associated with coverage, followed by maternal education and employment/occupational status. Geographic differences account for the largest part of racial disparities in insurance coverage in Argentina and Ecuador. CONCLUSIONS. Increasing the coverage of children in less affluent families is important for reducing racial gaps in health insurance coverage in the study countries.

Ongoing Coverage for Ongoing Care: Access, Utilization, and Out-of-Pocket Spending Among Uninsured Working-Aged Adults with Chronic Health Care Needs

We sought to determine how part-year and full-year gaps in health insurance coverage affected working-aged persons with chronic health care needs. We conducted multivariate analyses of the 2002-2004 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey to compare access, utilization, and out-of-pocket spending burden among key groups of persons with chronic conditions and disabilities. The results are generalizable to the US community-dwelling population aged 18 to 64 years. Among 92 million adults with chronic conditions, 21% experienced at least 1 month uninsured during the average year (2002-2004). Among the 25 million persons reporting both chronic conditions and disabilities, 23% were uninsured during the average year. These gaps in coverage were associated with significantly higher levels of access problems, lower rates of ambulatory visits and prescription drug use, and higher levels of out-of-pocket spending. Implementation of health care reform must focus not only on the prevention of chronic conditions and the expansion of insurance coverage but also on the long-term stability of the coverage to be offered.

Achieving Horizontal Equity: Must We Have a Single-Payer Health System?

The question posed in this article is whether single-payer health care systems are more likely to provide equal treatment for equal need (horizontal equity) than are multipayer systems. To address this question, we compare access to primary and specialty health care services across selected neighborhoods, grouped by average household income, in a single-payer system (the English NHS), a multiple-payer system with universal coverage (French National Health Insurance), and the U.S. multiple-payer system characterized by large gaps in health insurance coverage. We find that Paris residents, including those with low incomes, have better access to health care than their counterparts in Inner London and Manhattan. This finding casts doubt on the notion that the number of payers influences the capacity of a health care system to provide equitable access to its residents. The lesson is to worry less about the number of payers and more about the system's ability to assure access to primary and specialty care services.