Lisa Clemans-Cope

The Affordable Care Act’s Coverage Expansions Will Reduce Differences In Uninsurance Rates By Race And Ethnicity

There are large differences in US health insurance coverage by racial and ethnic groups, yet there have been no estimates to date on how implementation of the Affordable Care Act will affect the distribution of coverage by race and ethnicity. We used a microsimulation model to show that racial and ethnic differentials in coverage could be greatly reduced, potentially cutting the eight-percentage-point black-white differential in uninsurance rates by more than half and the nineteen-percentage-point Hispanic-white differential by just under one-quarter. However, blacks and Hispanics are still projected to remain more likely to be uninsured than whites. Achieving low uninsurance under the Affordable Care Act will depend on effective state policies to attain high enrollment in Medicaid and the Childrens Health Insurance Program and the new insurance exchanges. Coverage gains among Hispanics will probably depend on adoption of strategies that address language and related barriers to enrollment and retention in California and Texas, where almost half of Hispanics live. If uninsurance is reduced to the extent projected in this analysis, sizable reductions in long-standing racial and ethnic differentials in access to health care and health status are likely to follow.

Access to and Use of Paid Sick Leave Among Low-Income Families With Children

OBJECTIVE. The ability of employed parents to meet the health needs of their children may depend on their access to sick leave, especially for low-income workers, who may be afforded less flexibility in their work schedules to accommodate these needs yet also more likely to have children in poor health. Our goal was to provide rates of access to paid sick leave and paid vacation leave among low-income families with children and to assess whether access to these benefits is associated with parents’ leave taking to care for themselves or others. METHODS. We used a sample of low-income families (<200% of the federal poverty level) with children aged 0 to 17 years in the 2003 and 2004 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey to examine bivariate relationships between access to and use of paid leave and characteristics of children, families, and parents’ employer. RESULTS. Access to paid leave was lower among children in low-income families than among those in families with higher income. Within low-income families, children without ≥1 full-time worker in the household were especially likely to lack access to this benefit, as were children whose parents work for small employers. Among children whose parents had access to paid sick leave, parents were more likely to take time away from work to care for themselves or others. This relationship is even more pronounced among families with the highest need, such as children in fair or poor health and children with all parents in full-time employment. CONCLUSIONS. Legislation mandating paid sick leave could dramatically increase access to this benefit among low-income families. It would likely diminish gaps in parents’ leave taking to care for others between families with and without the benefit. However, until the health-related consequences are better understood, the full impact of such legislation remains unknown.

Low Income Parents' Reports of Communication Problems with Health Care Providers: Effects of Language and Insurance

Objectives. This study examines how parental reports of communication problems with health providers vary over a wider range of characteristics of low income children than considered in previous studies. Methods. Data were drawn from the 1999 and 2002 National Survey of Americas Families. Communication problems, insurance type, socioeconomic characteristics, health factors, and provider type were examined. Data were analyzed using bivariate and multivariate techniques. Results. Bivariate analysis identified that the parents of 24.4% of low income children and 36.4% of publicly covered low income children with a Spanish interview reported poor communication with health providers. Coefficients from regression analysis suggest that, controlling for covariates, foreign-born parents with a Spanish interview were 11.8 percentage points (p<0.01) more likely to report communication problems than U.S.-born parents with an English interview. Among low income publicly covered children with a Spanish interview, regression analysis suggests that parents of children who used clinics or hospital outpatient departments as their usual source of care were 9.5 percentage points (p<0.05) more likely to report communication problems compared with those whose usual source of care was a doctors or HMO office. Conclusions. Implementing policies to improve communication barriers for low income children, particularly those with foreign-born parents whose native language is not English, may be necessary to reduce health disparities relative to higher income children across a variety of health domains including utilization, satisfaction, and outcomes. Focusing attention on the availability of professional translation services in clinics or hospital outpatient departments may be a cost-effective strategy for reducing communication problems for publicly insured children.

The Expansion of Medicaid Coverage under the ACA: Implications for Health Care Access, Use, and Spending for Vulnerable Low-income Adults

The expansion of Medicaid coverage under the Affordable Care Act offers the potential for significant increases in health care access, use, and spending for vulnerable nonelderly adults who are uninsured. Using pooled data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, this study estimates the potential effects of Medicaid, controlling for individual and local community characteristics. Our findings project significant gains in health care access and use for uninsured adults who enroll in Medicaid coverage and have chronic health conditions and mental health conditions. With that increased use, annual per capita health care spending for those newly insured individuals (excluding out-of-pocket spending) is projected to grow from

Improving Care for Dual Eligibles through Innovations in Financing

2,677 to

Toward Universal Coverage in Massachusetts

6,370 in 2013 dollars, while their out-of-pocket spending would drop by

How Well Is CHIP Addressing Oral Health Care Needs and Access for Children

921. It is expected that these increases in spending would be offset at least in part by reductions in uncompensated care and charity care.

The Health Reform Monitoring Survey: Addressing Data Gaps To Provide Timely Insights Into The Affordable Care Act

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recently outlined demonstration projects focused on improving care for Americans who are eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid. One model to be tested involves capitation; the other builds on the fee-for-service system.

Trade-Offs Between Public And Private Coverage For Low-Income Children Have Implications For Future Policy Debates

This paper presents several options designed to help the Commonwealth of Massachusetts move to universal health insurance coverage. The alternatives all build upon a common base that includes an expansion of the Medicaid program, income-related tax credits, a purchasing pool, and government-sponsored reinsurance. These measures in themselves would not yield universal coverage, nor would an employer mandate by itself. We show that an individual mandate, and an employer mandate combined with an individual mandate, both would yield universal coverage with a relatively small increase in government costs relative to state gross domestic product and current health spending. The cost of an employer mandate—with a “pay or play” design—is sensitive to the payroll tax rate and base, the number and kind of exemptions, and whether workers whose employers “pay” receive discounts when they purchase health insurance. The development of these alternatives and their analyses contributed to the eventual health care compromise that emerged in Massachusetts in April 2006.

How Well Is CHIP Addressing Health Care Access and Affordability for Children

OBJECTIVE We examine how access to and use of oral and dental care under the Childrens Health Insurance Program (CHIP) compared to private coverage and being uninsured in 10 states. METHODS We report on findings drawn from a 2012 survey of CHIP enrollees in 10 states. We examined a range of parent-reported dental care access and use measures among CHIP enrollees. Comparisons of the experiences of established CHIP enrollees to the experiences of newly enrolling children who had been uninsured or privately insured were used to estimate the impacts of CHIP on childrens oral health and dental care. RESULTS Most children enrolled in CHIP had a usual source of dental care and had received a dental checkup or cleaning in the past year, and most over age 6 had had sealants placed on their molars. In addition, parents of most CHIP enrollees were aware that CHIP covered dental benefits, and most reported not having trouble finding a dentist to see their child. Even so, 12% of CHIP enrollees had unmet dental care needs. Compared to being uninsured, CHIP enrollees did better across nearly all oral health measures. Compared to being privately insured, CHIP enrollees were more likely to have dental benefits, to have a usual source of dental care, and to have had a dental checkup/cleaning, but they were more likely to have trouble finding a dentist and less likely to say that their childs teeth were in excellent/very good condition. CONCLUSIONS Enrolling eligible uninsured children in CHIP led to improvements in their access to preventive dental care, as well as reductions in their unmet dental care needs, yet the CHIP program has more work to do to address the oral health problems of children.