The trends in the uninsured rates among non-elderly adult patients hospitalized with acute pancreatitis in the US during 2004-2019.: Digestive System Diseases and Conditions – Acute Pancreatitis

2022 JUN 03 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- According to news reporting based on a preprint abstract, our journalists obtained the following quote sourced from medrxiv.org:

“Background and Aim: The impact of health reforms such as affordability care act (ACA) and Medicaid extension program on health insurance coverage among acute pancreatitis (AP) patients in the United States (US) is unknown. We report the trends and forecasts for the uninsured rates among acute pancreatitis (AP) patients in the US. Methods: We included non-elderly adult patients (aged 18 -64 years), hospitalized with AP in the nationwide inpatient sample database years 2004- 2019. We calculated the percentage of uninsured and Medicaid patients for each year and applied joinpoint (JP) regression model to study the trends. Results The uninsured rates among patients hospitalized with AP were almost twice compared to the national average rates for all hospitalized patients. Uninsured rates were higher among Hispanic and African American races, rural location, lower income quartiles and in the southern US regions.

“A statistically significant decline was observed during 2013-2016 with an APC of -12.23 ( -20- -4); p<0.01). The decline was apparent among all racial groups, locations and income groups but not in the southern region where gap in the uninsured rates worsened compared to other geographical regions. The trends reversed more recently, and the uninsured rates surged in 2018 for the first time after 2010. In 2019, 12.5% AP patients were uninsured compared to 11.6% in 2017.

“Conclusions: The ACA and Medicaid extension programs had a positive impact on the health insurance coverage among patients hospitalized with AP including racial minorities and low-income groups.

“However, the positive impact of ACA on the uninsured rates has decreased in most recent years (2017-2019) and may disappear completely in the coming years.”

This preprint has not been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: http://medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.05.20.22275404v1

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