Study Results from California State University Provide New Insights into Health Insurance (Health Benefits Mandates and Their Potential Impacts on…

Study Results from California State University Provide New Insights into Health Insurance (Health Benefits Mandates and Their Potential Impacts on Racial/Ethnic Group Disparities in Insurance Markets)

By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Weekly News -- New research on Health Insurance is the subject of a report. According to news originating from Fullerton, California, by VerticalNews correspondents, research stated, "Addressing racial/ethnic group disparities in health insurance benefits through legislative mandates requires attention to the different proportions of racial/ethnic groups among insurance markets. This necessary baseline data, however, has proven difficult to measure."

Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from California State University, "We applied racial/ethnic data from the 2009 California Health Interview Survey to the 2012 California Health Benefits Review Program Cost and Coverage Model to determine the racial/ethnic composition of ten health insurance market segments. We found disproportional representation of racial/ethnic groups by segment, thus affecting the health insurance impacts of benefit mandates. California's Medicaid program is disproportionately Latino (60 % in Medi-Cal, compared to 39 % for the entire population), and the individual insurance market is disproportionately non-Latino white. Gender differences also exist. Mandates could unintentionally increase insurance coverage racial/ethnic disparities."

According to the news editors, the research concluded: "Policymakers should consider the distribution of existing racial/ethnic disparities as criteria for legislative action on benefit mandates across health insurance markets."

For more information on this research see: Health Benefits Mandates and Their Potential Impacts on Racial/Ethnic Group Disparities in Insurance Markets. Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health, 2017;19(4):921-928. Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health can be contacted at: Springer, 233 Spring St, New York, NY 10013, USA. (Springer - www.springer.com; Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health - www.springerlink.com/content/1557-1912/)

The news correspondents report that additional information may be obtained from S.A. Charles, California State University, Dept. of Hlth Sci, Fullerton, CA 92831, United States. Additional authors for this research include N. Ponce, D. Ritley, S. Guendelman, J. Kempster, J. Lewis and J. Melnikow.

Keywords for this news article include: Fullerton, California, United States, North and Central America, Health Insurance, California State University.

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