Studies from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Provide New Data on Managed Care (Medicaid By Any Other Name? Investigating Malleability of Partisan Attitudes Toward the Public Program): Managed Care

2024 AUG 22 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- New research on Managed Care is the subject of a report. According to news reporting originating in Boston, Massachusetts, by NewsRx journalists, research stated, “Medicaid is the largest health insurance program by enrollment in the United States. The program varies across states and across a variety of dimensions, including what it is called; some states use state -specific naming conventions, for example, MassHealth in Massachusetts.”

The news reporters obtained a quote from the research from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, “In a preregistered online survey experiment ( N = 5,807), the authors tested whether public opinion shifted in response to the use of state -specific Medicaid program names for the provision of information about program enrollment. Replacing ‘Medicaid’ with a state -specific name resulted in a large increase in the share of respondents reporting that they ‘haven’t heard enough to say’ how they felt about the program. This corresponded to a decrease in both favorable and unfavorable attitudes toward the program. Although confusion increased among all partisan groups, there is evidence that state -specific names may also strengthen positive perceptions among Republicans. Providing enrollment information generally did not affect public opinion. These findings offer suggestive evidence that state -specific program names may muddle understanding of the program as a government -provided benefit.”

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “Policy makers seeking to bolster support for the program or claim credit for expanding or improving it may be better served by simply referring to it as ‘Medicaid..”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: Medicaid By Any Other Name? Investigating Malleability of Partisan Attitudes Toward the Public Program. Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law, 2024;49(3):451-471. Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law can be contacted at: Duke Univ Press, 905 W Main St, Ste 18-B, Durham, NC 27701, USA.

Our news correspondents report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Adrianna Mcintyre, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Dept. of Health Policy and Management, Hlth Policy & Polit, Boston, MA 02115, United States. Additional authors for this research include Josh Mccrain and Danielle Pavliv Humana.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1215/03616878-11066320. 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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