Investigators from University of Pittsburgh Target Managed Care (Effects of a Medicaid Dental Coverage “cliff” On Dental Care Access Among Low-income Medicare Beneficiaries): Managed Care

2022 APR 28 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Health Policy and Law Daily -- Investigators publish new report on Managed Care. According to news reporting from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, by NewsRx journalists, research stated, “To evaluate how an abrupt drop-off, or ‘cliff,’ in Medicaid dental coverage affects access to dental care among low-income Medicare beneficiaries. Medicaid is an important source of dental insurance for low-income Medicare beneficiaries, but beneficiaries whose incomes slightly exceed eligibility thresholds for Medicaid have fewer affordable options for dental coverage, resulting in a dental coverage cliff above these thresholds.”

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

The news correspondents obtained a quote from the research from the University of Pittsburgh, “Data Source Medicare Current Beneficiary Surveys (MCBS) from 2016 to 2019. We used a regression discontinuity design to evaluate effects of this dental coverage cliff. This study design exploited an abrupt difference in Medicaid coverage above income eligibility thresholds in the Medicaid program for elderly and disabled populations. Data Collection The study included low-income community-dwelling Medicare beneficiaries surveyed in the MCBS whose incomes, measured in percentage points of the federal poverty level, were within +/- 75 percentage points of state-specific Medicaid income eligibility thresholds (n = 7508 respondent-years, which when weighted represented 26,776,719 beneficiary-years). Medicare beneficiaries whose income exceeded Medicaid eligibility thresholds were 5.0 percentage points more likely to report difficulty accessing dental care due to cost concerns or a lack of insurance than beneficiaries below the thresholds (95% CI: 0.2, 9.8; p = 0.04)-a one-third increase over the proportion reporting difficulty below the thresholds (15.0%). A Medicaid dental coverage cliff exacerbates barriers to dental care access among low-income Medicare beneficiaries.”

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “Expanding dental coverage for Medicare beneficiaries, particularly those who are ineligible for Medicaid, could alleviate barriers to dental care access that result from the lack of comprehensive dental coverage in Medicare.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: Effects of a Medicaid Dental Coverage “cliff” On Dental Care Access Among Low-income Medicare Beneficiaries. Health Services Research, 2022. 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 journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Eric T. Roberts, University of Pittsburgh, Dept. of Health Policy and Management, School of Public Health, 130 DeSoto St, Room A653, Pittsburgh, PA 15261, United States. Additional authors for this research include Lindsay M. Sabik, Jennifer M. Mellor and Melissa P. McInerny.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-6773.13981. 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.)