Investigators at University of Tennessee Describe Findings in Disability Research (Effects of the Medicaid Expansion Under the Affordable Care Act On Health Insurance Coverage, Health Care Access, and Use for People With Disabilities): Disability Research

2022 JAN 19 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Health Policy and Law Daily -- Researchers detail new data in Disability Research. According to news reporting originating in Memphis, Tennessee, by NewsRx journalists, research stated, “People with disabilities have higher health care needs, service utilization, and expenditures. They are also more likely to lack insurance and experience unmet need for medical care.”

Financial support for this research came from Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

The news reporters obtained a quote from the research from the University of Tennessee, “There has been limited research on the effects of the Affordable Care Act Medicaid expansion on people with disabilities. To examine the effects of the Medicaid expansion on health insurance coverage, access, and service use for working-age adults with disabilities. A retrospective study using 11 years (2007-2017) of data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey - Household Components, linked to Area Health Resource Files and Local Area Unemployment Statistics (N = 40,995). Difference-in-differences multinomial logistic and linear probability models with state and year fixed-effects were used to estimate the effects. We found strong evidence of increased Medicaid coverage in expansion states (3.2 to 5.0 percentage points), reasonably strong evidence of reduced private insurance coverage (-2.2 to -2.5 percentage points), and some evidence of reduced uninsured rate (from no effect to -3.7 percentage points). Results suggest that the increase in Medicaid coverage was due at least in part to the ‘crowd-out’ of private insurance in expansion states. No statistically significant effects were detected for access and use outcomes. Findings suggest that state Medicaid expansions led to an increase in Medicaid coverage and a decrease in private insurance coverage as well as the uninsured. However, no evidence was found for health care access and use outcomes.”

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “Further research into access and use is needed when more data become available for the post-expansion period.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: Effects of the Medicaid Expansion Under the Affordable Care Act On Health Insurance Coverage, Health Care Access, and Use for People With Disabilities. Disability and Health Journal, 2022;15(1):101180. Disability and Health Journal can be contacted at: Elsevier Science Inc, Ste 800, 230 Park Ave, New York, NY 10169, USA. (Elsevier - www.elsevier.com; Disability and Health Journal - http://www.journals.elsevier.com/disability-and-health-journal/)

Our news correspondents report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Xiaobei Dong, University of Tennessee, Dept. of Clinical Pharmacy and Translational Sciences, College of Pharmacy, 881 Madison Ave, Room 214, Memphis, TN 38163, United States. Additional authors for this research include T. H. Gindling and Nancy A. Miller.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dhjo.2021.101180. 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.

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