Study Data from Emory University Update Understanding of Health Insurance (Effect of Medicaid Expansions on Health Insurance Coverage and Access to…

Study Data from Emory University Update Understanding of Health Insurance (Effect of Medicaid Expansions on Health Insurance Coverage and Access to Care among Low-Income Adults with Behavioral Health Conditions)

By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Managed Care Weekly Digest -- Research findings on Health Insurance are discussed in a new report. According to news originating from Atlanta, Georgia, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, "To examine the effect of Medicaid expansions on health insurance coverage and access to care among low-income adults with behavioral health conditions. Nine years (2004-2012) of individual-level cross-sectional data from a restricted-access version of National Survey on Drug Use and Health."

Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from Emory University, "A quasi-experimental difference-in-differences design comparing outcomes among residents in 14 states that implemented Medicaid expansions for low-income adults under the Section 1115 waiver with those residing in the rest of the country. Data Collection/Extraction Methods. The analytic sample includes low-income adult respondents with household incomes below 200 percent of the federal poverty level who have a behavioral health condition: approximately 28,400 low-income adults have past-year serious psychological distress and 24,900 low-income adults have a past-year substance use disorder (SUD). Among low-income adults with behavioral health conditions, Medicaid expansions were associated with a reduction in the rate of uninsurance (p <.05), a reduction in the probability of perceiving an unmet need for mental health (MH) treatment (p <.05) and for SUD treatment (p <.05), as well as an increase in the probability of receiving MH treatment (p <.01)."

According to the news editors, the research concluded: "The ongoing implementation of Medicaid expansions has the potential to improve health insurance coverage and access to care for low-income adults with behavioral health conditions."

For more information on this research see: Effect of Medicaid Expansions on Health Insurance Coverage and Access to Care among Low-Income Adults with Behavioral Health Conditions. Health Services Research, 2015;50(6):1787-1809. Health Services Research can be contacted at: Wiley-Blackwell, 111 River St, Hoboken 07030-5774, NJ, USA. (Wiley-Blackwell - www.wiley.com/; Health Services Research - onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1475-6773)

The news correspondents report that additional information may be obtained from H.F. Wen, Emory University, Dept. of Hlth Policy & Management, Rollins Sch Public Hlth, Atlanta, GA 30322, United States. Additional authors for this research include B.G. Druss and J.R. Cummings (see also Health Insurance).

Keywords for this news article include: Atlanta, Georgia, Medicaid, United States, Health Policy, Health Insurance, North and Central America,

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