Potentially eligible Medicaid population without Medicaid coverage Authors
Potentially eligible Medicaid population without Medicaid coverage
Authors: – Gerry Fairbrother, Ph. D – Joseph Schuchter, MPH Reviewers: – Lorin Ranbom – David Dorsky – Tom Scheid
Insurance is a critical precursor for health • Insurance = appropriate, quality care: medical home, regular check-ups, etc. • No insurance or unstable coverage leads to individual costs: – Unmet needs, delayed care, bankruptcy and societal costs: – “A Shared Destiny”, IOM 2003
Most of the uninsured are eligible Two-thirds of uninsured children meet income requirements One-third of uninsured parents meet income requirements Uninsured children: FPL Uninsured parents: FPL
Study purpose: • To examine the uninsured and unstably insured parents and children who are eligible for public coverage to learn: – who they are – how they differ from insured individuals – why they are not covered
Analysis restricted to eligible children and parents • Eligible children: – Households <150% FPL – Households 150 -200% FPL w/out other coverage • Eligible parents: – Households <100%FPL – parent, foster parent, legal-guardian, or stepparent to at least one family member aged 17 or younger living in their household
Insurance status • Current status – Participating – Not participating (uninsured) – Other • Year-long status – Full-year insured – Part-year insured (unstable) – Full-year uninsured (chronically)
Insurance classification of children and parents, current and year-long status
Current and year-long insurance status of eligible children and parents
Likelihood of not participating in Medicaid and being uninsured; univariate analysis
Children’s participation • 77, 000 eligible uninsured children – upper end of the income eligibility spectrum – have two adults in the family – of Hispanic race/ethnicity – no special health care need – rural non-Appalachian area – PARENT WHO IS NOT ON MEDICAID
Parent’s participation • 105, 000 eligible uninsured parents – upper end of the income eligibility spectrum – have two adults in the family – of Hispanic race/ethnicity – no special health care need – male
Likelihood of being uninsured all-year *, univariate analysis * Uninsured for a full-year compared to insured for a full-year
Unstable and chronic uninsurance • Associated w/ the same characteristics predicting participation in children and parents
Why uninsured in the past 12 months?
Primary reason for being uninsured in the past 12 m, percent of currently uninsured children and parents
Why no longer have Medicaid?
Primary reason for no longer having Medicaid, children and parents, by current insurance status
Why unable to get Medicaid? Why didn’t anyone try?
Primary reason child was unable to get Medicaid and family didn’t try to get, among children uninsured currently and for part or all of the past 12 months
Health utilization and needs among eligible children, by year-long insurance status
Health utilization and needs among eligible parents, by year-long insurance status
Insurance works • General increase in care received and decrease in unmet needs, for both children and parents • Most notable difference in the % of children with a well child visit in the last year: children with a fullyear of Medicaid coverage • Must be continuous to be effective: those with unstable (part-year) coverage have a level of unmet needs similar to those uninsured for a full-year
Implications • address confusion among working families about eligibility requirements • more linguistically and culturally sensitive outreach • enable families to obtain coverage they value; few of the eligible uninsured didn’t want or need Medicaid • further simplify enrollment and renewal processes to reduce burden on families and eligibility workers • solutions to increase enrollment must be multifaceted, using both simplification and outreach
- Slides: 24
