Search PubMed⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search PubMed

Results for “Insurance Coverage”

Search indexed PubMed citations on genomics, clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health. Explore titles, authors and supplied subject terms, then open the PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 1,477 records · Page 82Linked to original sources
PubMedDate not supplied

The decline in health insurance and labor market trends.

Since the mid-1980s, there has been a reduction in the percentage of workers with employment-based health insurance. In 1993, 68.6 percent of workers had this insurance, compared with 72.9 percent in 1988. The decline was slightly more pronounced among workers obtaining their insurance indirectly, i.e., through someone else's employer. There was a decline in direct employment-based health insurance (coverage through one's own employer) with proportions dropping from 56.1 percent in 1988 to 54.1 percent in 1993. The model used in this analysis identified the factors associated with the decline in employment-based health insurance. The data used were those from the 1989 and 1994 supplements to the Current Population Survey (CPS) conducted by the U.S. Bureau of the Census. The data analyses identified about 55 percent of the factors influencing decreases in employment-based coverage between 1988 and 1993. These factors include decreases in real wages, a small movement toward the use of part-time workers, movements from the goods-producing sector to the service-producing sector, changes in unemployment rates, rising health care costs and the changing racial composition of the work force. The relative proportion each of the factors contributed to the decline, as well as the counterbalancing influence of age, education, firm size, occupation and marital status is discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2001

Medicare. Can its benefits be sustained as cost of coverage grows?

By many measures Medicare is one of the most successful government programs ever instituted, and its benefit to the health of older citizens is unquestioned. Yet it is not without chronic problems and challenges, including the cost of administering the program, limited insurance coverage for certain services and conditions, lack of standardization, and fraud. Moreover, new challenges arise as societal circumstances change and political demands fluctuate. Chief among the concerns are the imminent influx of baby boomers into the system and the debate over expanding the limited scope of Medicare coverage.

Aged↗
PubMed1998

Managed care and outcomes of hospitalization among elderly patients with congestive heart failure.

BACKGROUND: Little was known about the impact of the health maintenance organization-managed care on patients hospitalized for congestive heart failure. Understanding this issue is important with regards to the increasing prevalence of congestive heart failure among the elderly population as well as the growing enrollment of Medicare beneficiaries in managed care. OBJECTIVE: To examine the impact of the health maintenance organization-managed care on the outcomes of hospitalization among patients with congestive heart failure. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We analyzed the Oregon hospital discharge data set. Study subjects were all patients with congestive heart failure aged 65 years or older (N=5821) discharged from hospitals in 1995 and classified into 6 insurance groups: managed care, Medicare, Medicaid, commercial or private insurance, self-pay, and other. RESULTS: The percentage of patients admitted to hospitals via emergency departments was significantly higher in the managed care patients (69%) than in other health insurance coverage groups (29.0%-58.5%; P<.001). After adjusting for age, sex, and comorbidity, the managed care patients experienced a similar length of hospital stay (3.6 days) as the commercial or private insurance patients (3.7 days; P = .67), but a shorter length of hospital stay than the Medicare patients (4.0 days; P<.001), self-pay patients (4.5 days; P<.001), and other patients (4.8 days; P<.001). No difference in the in-hospital mortality rate was seen among the insurance groups (P = .37). The readmission rate was slightly higher in managed care patients (9.1%) than in commercial insurance patients (6.8%) and Medicare patients (7.5%). The differences, however, were not statistically significant after adjusting for the confounding factors (P = .59). CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest no association between managed care and poor short-term outcomes of hospitalization in patients with congestive heart failure. Attention, however, needs to be paid to the increased use of emergency departments by managed care patients.

Aged↗
PubMed2006

Insurability and mitigation of flood losses in private households in Germany.

In Germany, flood insurance is provided by private insurers as a supplement to building or contents insurance. This article presents the results of a survey of insurance companies with regard to eligibility conditions for flood insurance changes after August 2002, when a severe flood caused 1.8 billion euro of insured losses in the Elbe and the Danube catchment areas, and the general role of insurance in flood risk management in Germany. Besides insurance coverage, governmental funding and public donations played an important role in loss compensation after the August 2002 flood. Therefore, this article also analyzes flood loss compensation, risk awareness, and mitigation in insured and uninsured private households. Insured households received loss compensation earlier. They also showed slightly better risk awareness and mitigation strategies. Appropriate incentives should be combined with flood insurance in order to strengthen future private flood loss mitigation. However, there is some evidence that the surveyed insurance companies do little to encourage precautionary measures. To overcome this problem, flood hazards and mitigation strategies should be better communicated to both insurance companies and property owners.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1994

The Clinton plan: a researcher examines reform.

The Clintons are commended for bringing health care reform to the top of the domestic policy agenda. Their plan's basic elements are summarized and critiqued, with emphasis on the problems posed by its complexity. Five false assumptions that underlie most reform proposals are examined. They concern the burden of health care costs, the significance of firm size, the effect of health care costs on global competitiveness, the relation between insurance coverage and expenditures, and the implications of health care reform for the health of the population. Three critical issues for the future of health policy are discussed: the disengagement of health insurance from employment, the taming of technologic change, and coping with an aging society.

Aged↗
PubMed2000

Evaluation of a state health insurance program for low-income children: implications for state child health insurance programs.

BACKGROUND: The State Child Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) is the largest public investment in child health care in 30 years, targeting 11 million uninsured children, yet little is known about the impact of health insurance on uninsured children. In 1991, New York State implemented Child Health Plus (CHPlus), a health insurance program that became a model for SCHIP: OBJECTIVE: To examine changes in access to care, utilization of services, and quality of care among children enrolled in CHPlus. DESIGN: A pre-post design was used to evaluate the health care experiences of children in the year before enrollment in CHPlus and during the year after CHPlus enrollment. SETTING: New York State, stratified into 4 regions: New York City, urban counties around New York City, upstate urban counties, and upstate rural counties. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 2126 children (0-12.99 years of age) who enrolled in CHPlus in 1992-1993. DATA COLLECTION: Parents were interviewed by telephone, and primary care medical charts were reviewed for 694 children (0-3. 99 years of age). ANALYSIS: Access, utilization, and quality of care measures for each child were compared for the year before and the year after CHPlus enrollment, controlling for age, geographic region, previous insurance coverage, and CHPlus plan type (indemnity or managed care). RESULTS: Enrollment in CHPlus was associated with fewer children lacking a medical home (5% before CHPlus vs 1% during CHPlus), with the greatest change occurring in New York City (11% vs 1%), where access before CHPlus was lowest. CHPlus was also associated with increased primary care visits: by 25% for preventive visits, by 52% for acute visits, and by 42% for total visits. The number of specialists seen during CHPlus was more than twice as high than before CHPlus. CHPlus was not associated with changes in emergency department utilization, although hospitalizations, which were not covered by CHPlus, were 36% lower during CHPlus coverage. Use of public health departments for immunizations declined by 64%, with more immunizations delivered in the medical home during CHPlus coverage. One third of parents reported improved quality of health care for their child as a result of CHPlus, and virtually none noted worse quality of care. CONCLUSIONS: This statewide health insurance program for low-income children was associated with improved access, utilization, and quality of care, suggesting that SCHIP has the potential to improve health care for low-income American children.

Child↗
PubMed1990

Low-birth-weight effects of demographic and socioeconomic variables and prenatal care in Pima County, Arizona.

Low birth weight is the major determinant of infant mortality. Continuing declines in infant mortality in the United States are due to the use of neonatal intensive care services; less progress has been made toward preventing low birth weight. I examined how the demographic, socioeconomic, and health services use variables affected rates of low birth weights in Pima County, Arizona, in 1985. Women at greatest risk of having the smallest infants were those younger than 21 years and those with fewer than 6 prenatal visits. Nulliparous women with fewer than 6 prenatal visits showed a still greater risk of having an infant of low birth weight. Women without medical insurance coverage had babies with the lowest mean birth weights, as well as significantly fewer prenatal visits. As the number of uninsured in the United States increases, the effect of lack of insurance among pregnant women becomes increasingly important. To prevent low-weight births, comprehensive maternity care services must be available to all pregnant women regardless of ability to pay.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2005

After the diagnosis: adherence and persistence with hypertension therapy.

Poor adherence to therapy is a major reason that large percentage of patients with hypertension fail to achieve good blood pressure control. Side effects, such as cough, dizziness, nausea, and headache, are frequently cited as reasons for lack of adherence and persistence with hypertension therapy. Use of newer classes of antihypertensive agents with better tolerability than older agents may be one way to improve adherence and persistence. Recent studies have shown higher rates of adherence and persistence with therapy in patients treated with angiotensin receptor blockers, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, or newer calcium channel blockers compared with other antihypertensive agents. Health insurance coverage can also affect patient adherence and persistence.

Antihypertensive Agents↗
PubMed2004

Correlates of physician visits among children and adolescents in west Texas: effects of hyperglycemia symptoms.

CONTEXT: Health care services use by children varies tremendously. Because of the increasing prevalence of diabetes in children and adolscents, one of the major concerns is access to physician care among children with diabetes and diabetes symptoms. PURPOSE: This population-based cross-sectional study examines correlates of physician visit among children and adolescents living in west Texas. METHODS: A telephone survey was administered in 2002 to a random sample of households in 106 counties of West Texas. The sample included 5,462 respondents with children aged between 3 and 18 years. Proportional odds ordered logistic regression analysis was used to determine correlates of physician visits in the previous 12 months. FINDINGS: Hispanic children were less likely than non-Hispanic whites to have a recent physician visit; there were no significant rural-urban differences. Children with insurance (adjusted odds ratio= 2.21, 95% CI = 1.89-2.59) were more likely to visit physicians. Almost 16% of children in this study did not have any health insurance coverage. Children reporting 3 or more hyperglycemia symptoms and those with a family history of diabetes had 1.81 times and 1.20 times the odds of visiting the physician. CONCLUSIONS: Presence of health insurance and increasing symptoms of diabetes were found to influence the utilization of physician services. Since most of the cases of diabetes that have recently been diagnosed among Texas youth are type 2 diabetes, it is important that adolescents and their parents are educated about the risk factors and how to recognize them.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1998

Priorities and priority-setting in health care in the Netherlands.

Since 1990, the priority-setting has become one of the key issues in making choices in health care. In 1991, the now famous Dunning Report was presented to the Dutch Cabinet. One of its main conclusions was that health services should satisfy four criteria: necessary care, effectiveness, efficiency, and individual responsibility. Priority-setting can be done either by excluding medical treatments from compulsory health insurance coverage and/or by the use of both protocols and guidelines, and the individual selection of patients by health professionals. The discussion on the introduction of in vitro fertilization into the basic health insurance package and the exclusion of dental care for adults have shown that, on the basis of the Dunning criteria, it is not easy to leave complete or parts of services out of the basic health insurance package. The second strategy - the application of the Committee's criteria by the use of protocols, guidelines, and budget restrictions - is even more difficult to realize. More patients assert their right to health care benefits before courts. The courts' decisions have shown that it is difficult for the patient's counsellor to prove that government is responsible for non-delivery due to force majeur. Courts attach much importance to the Dunning criteria; in particular the criterion of necessity.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Analysis of prevention benefits in comprehensive health care reform legislation in the 102nd Congress.

One of the most important factors affecting the use of preventive services is health insurance coverage; however, until recently, most public and private health plans have explicitly excluded coverage of most preventive care. As a result, preventive services are used less frequently than recommended guidelines suggest, which contributes to the high incidence of preventable morbidity and mortality in the United States. Recent congressional efforts to enact national health care reform legislation present an important opportunity to analyze coverage for preventive services. This article presents the results of an analysis of the prevention benefits in 23 comprehensive health care reform bills introduced in 1991 during the first session of the 102nd Congress. I classified each bill by type (employer-based, single payer, managed competition, tax credit, and insurance market reform) and through a content analysis identified benefits for immunization, screening, and counseling services (including cost-sharing provisions), as well as funding for community-based health promotion. I interviewed congressional staff members of the sponsors of each bill to discuss their rationale for including or excluding specific prevention benefits and their reliance on existing policy, guidelines, and health services research or on the involvement of interest groups in developing prevention benefits. I conclude that health care reform is likely to address prevention, particularly in covering specific clinical preventive services, such as well-child visits, prenatal care, immunizations, family planning, and cancer screening. The prevention benefits least likely to be included in health care reform are coverage for counseling services and funding for community-based health promotion.

Health Care Reform↗
PubMed2006

Breast biopsy and race/ethnicity among women without breast cancer.

BACKGROUND: Breast biopsy is essential for definitive breast cancer diagnosis, but may also play a role in determining eligibility for breast cancer preventive measures or clinical trials. In addition, the prevalence of a history of negative breast biopsy can be viewed as an indicator of the adequacy or intensity of health care in a given population. We therefore analyzed the association of a history of breast biopsy with race/ethnicity and other factors in a cohort of women without a cancer diagnosis who completed a risk assessment form for participation in the Study of Tamoxifen and Raloxifene (STAR) and a sociodemographic questionnaire. METHODS: Subjects were recruited at our large, urban teaching hospital. We developed a logistic regression model with biopsy (ever/never) as the outcome and age, race/ethnicity, educational attainment, and insurance coverage as the independent variables. RESULTS: Among 805 unaffected predominantly minority subjects, white women were more than three times as likely as black and Hispanic women (OR=3.3, 95% CI 1.9-5.9), and insured women were twice as likely as uninsured women (OR=2.0, 95% CI 1.4-2.9) to have had a biopsy. Biopsy results were also associated with race/ethnicity. DISCUSSION: We view these observations as hypothesis-generating rather than definitive. If confirmed, the associations we observed between negative biopsies and insurance status may reflect disparities in the timeliness and effectiveness of follow-up of suspicious lesions found via mammography. Our findings may also be relevant to the well-known association of breast cancer stage at diagnosis with low income and minority race/ethnicity.

Adult↗
PubMed2002

Long-term care financing: options for the future.

The aging of the baby boomers will have an enormous impact on the future of long-term care costs. This article projects the magnitude of that impact, discusses sources of financing, and considers the cost and feasibility of three options for financing future long-term care services. The authors investigate the alternatives of increasing personal savings, raising payroll taxes and expanding employer-sponsored private long-term care insurance coverage, respectively.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Triple jeopardy: rural, poor, and uninsured.

Current knowledge on health care for the rural poor and uninsured demonstrates little descriptive and empirical knowledge on this population. Policy strategies call for a better understanding of the gaps in insurance coverage and the special problems of rural residents, especially those with low incomes.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1996

Health insurance: the tradeoff between risk pooling and moral hazard.

Choosing optimal health insurance coverage involves a trade-off between the gain from risk reduction and the deadweight loss from moral hazard. This paper examines this trade-off empirically by estimating both the demand for health insurance and the demand for health services. It relies on data from a randomized controlled trial of cost-sharing's effects on the use of health services and on the health status for a general, non-elderly population.

Actuarial Analysis↗
PubMed2002

Knowledge of health care benefits among patients with depression.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the accuracy of patient self-reports of health care insurance coverage relative to actual health care benefits and to explore patient predictors of accuracy among patients with depression. METHODS: Data were analyzed from 767 patients with current depressive symptoms and disorder who completed a self-report mail survey that included questions about health insurance and for whom we also obtained actual health care benefits records. Percentage agreement and kappa statistics were calculated for different types of benefits (medical visit, pharmacy and mental health visit copays, and mental health visit limits), and we used multivariate analysis to examine predictors of accuracy. RESULTS: Accuracy of self-reports relative to administrative data were good for measures of medical visits and prescription copays (kappa = 0.79 and 0.64), but less accurate for measures of mental health benefits (kappa = 0.19 for copays and 0.40 for visit coverage). Recent use of health care services (past 6 months) increased the accuracy of medical benefits but not of mental health benefits. Inaccuracy of mental health benefits was in the direction of patients perceiving more generous coverage than was actually available to them. Men and those with greater wealth were more knowledgeable about their medical benefits. Those from a nonminority ethnic group, who were less satisfied, and were less sick had better knowledge about their mental health benefits. CONCLUSIONS: Agreement between self-reports and actual benefits was stronger for general medical services than for mental health care. Background, experience, and sickness lead to more accurate recall of insurance information.

Adult↗
PubMed1999

Criteria for selection of patients for bariatric surgery.

International criteria for bariatric surgery and bariatric surgeons have been well-defined in terms of the current state of the art and are presented together with weight tables and a list of co-morbidities of morbid obesity. The bariatric surgeon should make the primary judgement concerning bariatric surgery using these criteria as guidelines only, not strict rules; others who use these criteria should govern themselves in a like, fair-minded, fashion. Medical insurers' and their agents' criteria, if excessively restrictive relative to the guidelines, may reflect an ingrained prejudice against the morbidly obese, manifesting itself in an unfair, unethical and immoral bias. It is the essence of humane and equitable behaviour on the part of all concerned that the morbidly obese receive non-discriminatory, appropriate treatment, care and medical insurer coverage for their disease and its comorbidities.

Body Weight↗
PubMed1984

Acute appendicitis in children: factors affecting morbidity.

Appendicitis is a disease that continues to be characterized by a high morbidity rate that has changed little over the past 50 years. A significant proportion of patients (39 percent in this study) still present with advanced disease (gangrene, perforation, or abscess), as determined at operation. Duration of symptoms was the factor most closely associated with advanced disease. Patients with advanced disease had 88 percent of the morbidity. Primary care physicians referred patients who had symptoms for a longer period of time and who ultimately were found to have a more advanced stage of disease compared with patients who were referred from emergency rooms. This difference did not correlate with third party insurance coverage, as both referral groups exhibited a similar profile of coverage. In this study, the number of normal appendices removed was 5 percent. Early intervention remains the most promising means to reduce morbidity, mortality, and discomfort for the child and expense to the family or insurance carrier of a child with suspected appendicitis.

Acute Disease↗