The Impact of the Affordable Care Act on Insurance Coverage of Hearing Healthcare

2014 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica J. Messersmith ◽  
Lindsey Jorgensen
Keyword(s):  
Affordable Care Act ◽  
Quality Care ◽  
Insurance Coverage ◽  
Health Benefit ◽  
State Level ◽  
The United States ◽  
Department Of Health ◽  
The Affordable Care Act ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Impact

Implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) impacts the profession of audiology beyond individual audiology practice patterns in the clinic. The legislation and further required implementation of the ACA may dictate coverage of audiologic services and devices now and into the future. Audiologic (re)habilitative services and devices have not historically been covered and are unlikely included in benchmark plans. Under the current language of the ACA, states without mandated coverage of hearing healthcare prior to 2011 will face significant challenges in creating mandates. Arguments for including audiologic services and devices as an Essential Health Benefit (EHB) include quality care, improved patient outcomes, and improved consistency in coverage patterns across the United States. Due to the limited definition of EHB from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and loopholes in plans required to follow ACA guidelines, it is very possible that the inconsistencies across plans and states may increase and that financial repercussions at the state level may hinder passage of state-level mandated coverage of hearing healthcare.

The Impact of the Affordable Care Act Medicaid Expansions on the Sources of Health Insurance Coverage of Undergraduate Students in the United States

2021 ◽  
pp. 107755872110158
Author(s):  
Priyanka Anand ◽  
Dora Gicheva
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Health Insurance ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Affordable Care Act ◽  
Insurance Coverage ◽  
Health Insurance Coverage ◽  
The United States ◽  
Percentage Points ◽  
The Affordable Care Act ◽  
Medicaid Expansions

This article examines how the Affordable Care Act Medicaid expansions affected the sources of health insurance coverage of undergraduate students in the United States. We show that the Affordable Care Act expansions increased the Medicaid coverage of undergraduate students by 5 to 7 percentage points more in expansion states than in nonexpansion states, resulting in 17% of undergraduate students in expansion states being covered by Medicaid postexpansion (up from 9% prior to the expansion). In contrast, the growth in employer and private direct coverage was 1 to 2 percentage points lower postexpansion for students in expansion states compared with nonexpansion states. Our findings demonstrate that policy efforts to expand Medicaid eligibility have been successful in increasing the Medicaid coverage rates for undergraduate students in the United States, but there is evidence of some crowd out after the expansions—that is, some students substituted their private and employer-sponsored coverage for Medicaid.

ObamaCare’s 2014 Report Card? Preaching Patience — to Supporters and Opponents

HPHR Journal ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin D. Sommers ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Access To Care ◽  
Affordable Care Act ◽  
Human Services ◽  
Insurance Coverage ◽  
Open Enrollment ◽  
Report Card ◽  
Health And Human Services ◽  
Department Of Health ◽  
The Affordable Care Act ◽  
The U.S

The first open enrollment period under the Affordable Care Act has come and gone. One might be tempted to ask, “How has the law done so far?” — if only that question hadn’t already been asked ad nauseum since the first week of open enrollment in October 2013. As a researcher whose primary interests are insurance coverage and access to care (and as an advisor in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services), I have frequently been asked this question – by students, by friends and family, and by reporters. Consider this my response.

Association of Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act with access to elective spine surgical care

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Jacob K. Greenberg ◽  
Derek S. Brown ◽  
Margaret A. Olsen ◽  
Wilson Z. Ray
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Spine Surgery ◽  
Surgical Procedures ◽  
Affordable Care Act ◽  
Surgical Care ◽  
The United States ◽  
Medicaid Expansion ◽  
Percentage Points ◽  
The Affordable Care Act ◽  
The Impact

OBJECTIVE The Affordable Care Act expanded Medicaid eligibility in many states, improving access to some forms of elective healthcare in the United States. Whether this effort increased access to elective spine surgical care is unknown. This study’s objective was to evaluate the impact of Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act on the volume and payer mix of elective spine surgery in the United States. METHODS This study evaluated elective spine surgical procedures performed from 2011 to 2016 and included in the all-payer State Inpatient Databases of 10 states that expanded Medicaid access in 2014, as well as 4 states that did not expand Medicaid access. Adult patients aged 18–64 years who underwent elective spine surgery were included. The authors used a quasi-experimental difference-in-difference design to evaluate the impact of Medicaid expansion on hospital procedure volume and payer mix, independent of time-dependent trends. Subgroup analysis was conducted that stratified results according to cervical fusion, thoracolumbar fusion, and noninstrumented surgery. RESULTS The authors identified 218,648 surgical procedures performed in 10 Medicaid expansion states and 118,693 procedures performed in 4 nonexpansion states. Medicaid expansion was associated with a 17% (95% CI 2%–35%, p = 0.03) increase in mean hospital spine surgical volume and a 23% (95% CI −0.3% to 52%, p = 0.054) increase in Medicaid volume. Privately insured surgical volumes did not change significantly (incidence rate ratio 1.13, 95% CI −5% to 34%, p = 0.18). The increase in Medicaid volume led to a shift in payer mix, with the proportion of Medicaid patients increasing by 6.0 percentage points (95% CI 4.1–7.0, p < 0.001) and the proportion of private payers decreasing by 6.7 percentage points (95% CI 4.5–8.8, p < 0.001). Although the magnitude of effects varied, these trends were similar across procedure subgroups. CONCLUSIONS Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act was associated with an economically and statistically significant increase in spine surgery volume and the proportion of surgical patients with Medicaid insurance, indicating improved access to care.

scholarly journals Patterns of Coverage Gains Among Young Adult Cancer Patients Following the Affordable Care Act

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Leticia M Nogueira ◽  
Neetu Chawla ◽  
Xuesong Han ◽  
Ahmedin Jemal ◽  
K Robin Yabroff
Keyword(s):  
Young Adult ◽  
Cancer Patients ◽  
Affordable Care Act ◽  
Private Insurance ◽  
Insurance Coverage ◽  
Temporal Patterns ◽  
Patients Âgés ◽  
The Affordable Care Act ◽  
Young Adult Cancer ◽  
The Impact

Abstract The dependent coverage expansion (DCE) and Medicaid expansions (ME) under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) may differentially affect eligibility for health insurance coverage in young adult cancer patients. Studies examining temporal patterns of coverage changes in young adults following these policies are lacking. We used data from the National Cancer Database 2003–2015 to conduct a quasi-experimental study of cancer patients ages 19–34 years, grouped as DCE-eligible (19- to 25-year-olds) and DCE-ineligible (27- to 34-year-olds). Although private insurance coverage in DCE-eligible cancer patients increased incrementally following DCE implementation (0.5 per quarter; P < .001), an immediate effect on Medicaid coverage gains was observed after ME in all young adult cancer patients (3.01 for DCE-eligible and 1.62 for DCE-ineligible, both P < .001). Therefore, DCE and ME each had statistically significant and distinct effects on insurance coverage gains. Distinct temporal patterns of ACA policies’ impact on insurance coverage gains likely affect patterns of receipt of cancer care. Temporal patterns should be considered when evaluating the impact of health policies.

The Affordable Care Act and assisted reproductive technology use

2015 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 71-90 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia Stapleton ◽  
Daniel Skinner
Keyword(s):  
Affordable Care Act ◽  
Technology Use ◽  
Assisted Reproductive Technologies ◽  
Insurance Coverage ◽  
The United States ◽  
Reproductive Technologies ◽  
Gender And Sexuality ◽  
Insurance Markets ◽  
The Affordable Care Act ◽  
American Society

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) has prompted numerous gender and sexuality controversies. We describe and analyze those involving assisted reproductive technologies (ART). ART in the United States has been regulated in piecemeal fashion, with oversight primarily by individual states. While leaving state authority largely intact, the ACA federalized key practices by establishing essential health benefits (EHBs) that regulate insurance markets and prohibit insurance-coverage denials based on pre-existing conditions. Whatever their intentions, the ACA’s drafters thus put infertility in a subtly provocative new light clinically, financially, normatively, politically, and culturally. With particular attention to normative and political dynamics embedded in plausible regulatory trajectories, we review—and attempt topreview—the ACA’s effects on infertility-related delivery of health services, on ART utilization, and on reproductive medicine as a factor in American society.

scholarly journals The Affordable Care Act: Where Are We Now? An NCCN Roundtable

2014 ◽  
Vol 12 (5S) ◽  
pp. 745-747 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian G. Downs ◽  
Liz Fowler ◽  
Michael Kolodziej ◽  
Lee H. Newcomer ◽  
Mohammed S. Ogaily ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Health Care Providers ◽  
Affordable Care Act ◽  
The United States ◽  
Annual Conference ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Future Challenges ◽  
The Affordable Care Act ◽  
Oncology Practice ◽  
The Impact

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is a transformational event for health care in the United States, with multiple impacts on health care, the economy, and society. Oncologists and other health care providers are already experiencing many changes—direct and indirect, anticipated and unanticipated. A distinguished and diverse panel assembled at the NCCN 19th Annual Conference to discuss the early phase of implementation of the ACA. The roundtable touched on early successes and stumbling blocks; the impact of the ACA on contemporary oncology practice and the new risk pool facing providers, payers, and patients; and some of the current and future challenges that lie ahead for all.

scholarly journals The impact of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act on insurance coverage and cancer‐directed treatment in HIV‐infected patients with cancer in the United States

Cancer ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 126 (3) ◽  
pp. 559-566 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kelsey L. Corrigan ◽  
Leticia Nogueira ◽  
K. Robin Yabroff ◽  
Chun Chieh Lin ◽  
Xuesong Han ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Affordable Care Act ◽  
Insurance Coverage ◽  
The United States ◽  
Patients With Cancer ◽  
Patient Protection ◽  
The Impact

546 Impact of the Affordable Care Act on Burn Outcomes

2020 ◽  
Vol 41 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S112-S113
Author(s):  
Jamie Oh ◽  
Amali Fernando ◽  
Stephen Sibbett ◽  
Gretchen J Carrougher ◽  
Barclay T Stewart ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Affordable Care Act ◽  
Injury Severity ◽  
Burn Injury ◽  
Insurance Coverage ◽  
Complication Rates ◽  
Patient Disposition ◽  
Burn Center ◽  
The Affordable Care Act ◽  
Chi Square Analysis ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Introduction With changes in insurance coverage after the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in 2014, we aim to analyze the impact of Medicaid expansion on clinical outcomes and patient disposition after burn injury. We hypothesize that with increased insurance coverage, more patients are discharged to a skilled nursing facility (SNF) or rehabilitation center. Methods Under IRB approval, we reviewed trauma registry data for patients with burn injuries admitted to a regional burn center from 2011 to 2018. Patients were grouped into two categories: before (2011–2014) and after (2015–2018) ACA; we excluded data from 2014 to serve as a washout period. Outcomes of interest were length of hospital stay controlled for burn size (LOS/TBSA), number of complications, patient disposition (Home, SNF, or Rehab), and mortality. Chi square analysis and student t-tests were performed to determine differences between the two groups. Multivariate logistic regression including age, sex, race, distance from medical center, burn size, and etiology of the burn as covariates were used to determine the impact of ACA implementation on patient disposition. Results Inpatient mortality rates did not change following ACA implementation. Average LOS/TBSA and number of complications increased, which may be due to increased average age, burn size, and distance from the burn center after ACA. Fewer patients were discharged home and more patients were sent to rehabilitation centers and SNF, which may relate to more patients being insured. Even after adjusting for covariates, discharge to inpatient rehabilitation was significantly increased and discharge to a SNF approached significance. Conclusions Since ACA implementation, there has been no change in mortality after a burn injury, but an increase in average LOS and complication rates, consistent with increased injury severity. Rates of discharge to rehab centers and SNF improved with the increase in overall insurance coverage in the burn population. Applicability of Research to Practice This work highlights changes in patient outcomes with ACA implementation and can help to guide understanding of health disparity and resource utilization in this population.

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