Findings from RAND Corporation Broaden Understanding of Health and Society (Changes In Pediatric Dental Coverage and Visits Following the Implementation of the Affordable Care Act)

2019 APR 12 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Health Policy and Law Daily -- Investigators publish new report on Health and Medicine - Health and Society. According to news reporting originating in Arlington, Virginia, by NewsRx journalists, research stated, “To determine the impact of the inclusion of pediatric dental care in the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) core package of essential health benefits on dental coverage and utilization. Children aged 1-18 years included in the nationally representative 2010-2015 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS).”

Financial support for this research came from Maternal and Child Health Bureau.

The news reporters obtained a quote from the research from RAND Corporation, “We used regression-adjusted difference-in-differences to examine changes in rates of dental coverage and visits pre- and post-ACA for children likely to be affected by the ACA (have a parent working for a small employer) to a comparison group of children who were unlikely to be affected (have a parent in a firm with >= 50 employees). Models adjusted for relevant health and sociodemographic measures. Data Collection NHIS is an annual household survey conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics. Comparing pre- and post-ACA periods, private dental insurance increased by 4.6 percentage points more (P = 0.013) and annual dental visits were unchanged (2.7 percentage points, P = 0.071) among children likely to be affected by the ACA compared to children unlikely to be affected by the ACA.”

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “Inclusion of pediatric dental care as an ACA essential health benefit increased dental insurance coverage, but not dental visits among children likely to be affected by this policy.”

For more information on this research see: Changes In Pediatric Dental Coverage and Visits Following the Implementation of the Affordable Care Act. Health Services Research, 2019;54(2):437-445. Health Services Research can be contacted at: Wiley, 111 River St, Hoboken 07030-5774, NJ, USA. (Wiley-Blackwell - http://www.wiley.com/; Health Services Research - http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1475-6773)

Our news correspondents report that additional information may be obtained by contacting A.M. Kranz, RAND Corporation, Arlington, VA 22202, United States.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-6773.13093. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

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