Background The Affordable Care Act was passed in 2010, which provided a platform for states to develop insurance marketplaces. The goal of this legislation was to improve insurance coverage by providing more affordable options to patients. One metric of the Affordable Care Act was to improve access to comprehensive cancer care. Objective To identify to the effect of the Affordable Care Act on access to Gynecologic Oncologists in Ohio. Study design The Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act increased access to health insurance in Ohio, through Medicaid expansion and creation of a healthcare marketplace. We accessed information on access and usage of the healthcare marketplace in Ohio through Healthinsurance.org. We identified Gynecologic Oncology practices in Ohio through the Society of Gynecologic Oncology, and confirmed these practices by telephone. We communicated with each practice and identified which practices took marketplace health insurance. We also gathered information on changes in usage from 2014-2018. We then used descriptive statistics to identify access to a Gynecologic Oncologist though these exchanges. Results In 2017, there were 238,843 people enrolled in marketplace insurance (2% of the Ohio population). We identified 11 practices in Ohio with 39 Gynecologic Oncologists, and 11 marketplace insurance providers. Of these insurers, 7 could be clearly identified as providing access to 5 different Gynecologic Oncology practices. Of the 11 practices, 5 were confirmed to accept marketplace insurance (46%). Interestingly, 3 practices were unsure whether they took patients on marketplace insurance (27%), and 3 definitively did not take patients on marketplace insurance (27%). Each practice varied with how many exchanges they accepted, with 4 out of 5 accepting insurance through more than one insurer. Conclusions About half of the Gynecologic Oncology practices in Ohio accepted insurance through the insurance marketplace, which may limit patient access to a Gynecologic Oncologist.
The Role of Limited English Proficiency and Access to Health Insurance and Health Care in the Affordable Care Act Era
