Data from University of Florida Update Knowledge in Environmental Research and Public Health (The Impact of the Affordable Care Act on Dental Care: An Integrative Literature Review)

2021 AUG 25 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Health Policy and Law Daily -- New study results on environmental research and public health have been published. According to news reporting from the University of Florida by NewsRx journalists, research stated, “The goal of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) is to increase access to health insurance and decrease health care cost while improving health care quality.”

Financial supporters for this research include the National Research Foundation of Korea.

The news editors obtained a quote from the research from University of Florida: “With more articles examining the relationship between one of the ACA provisions and dental health outcomes, we systematically reviewed the effect of the ACA on dental care coverage and access to dental services. We searched literature using the National Library of Medicine’s Medline (PubMed) and Thomson Reuters’ Web of Science between January 2010 and November 2020. We identified 33 articles related to dental coverage, and access/utilization of dental care services. This systematic review of studies showed that the ACA resulted in gains in dental coverage for adults and children, whereas results were mixed with dental care access. Overall, we found that the policy led to a decrease in cost barriers, an increase in private dental coverage for young adults, and increased dental care use among low-income childless adults. The implementation of the ACA was not directly associated with dental insurance coverage among people in the U.S.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “However, results suggest positive spillover effects of the ACA on dental care coverage and utilization by people in the national level dataset.”

For more information on this research see: The Impact of the Affordable Care Act on Dental Care: An Integrative Literature Review. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2021,18(7865):7865. (International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health - http://www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph). The publisher for International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is MDPI AG.

A free version of this journal article is available at https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18157865.

Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Jihee Song, Department of Family, Youth, and Community Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA. Additional authors for this research include Jeong Nam Kim, Scott Tomar, Lauren N. Wong.

(Our reports deliver fact-based news of research and discoveries from around the world.)