{"id":7077,"date":"2023-01-17T10:49:06","date_gmt":"2023-01-17T15:49:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chirblog.org\/?p=7077"},"modified":"2023-01-17T10:49:06","modified_gmt":"2023-01-17T15:49:06","slug":"december-research-roundup-reading-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chirblog.org\/december-research-roundup-reading-3\/","title":{"rendered":"December Research Roundup: What We\u2019re Reading"},"content":{"rendered":"
By Kristen Ukeomah<\/p>\n
Happy New Year! The holiday season may be over, but health policy researchers continue to bestow gifts onto our field. In December, we read about disruptions in health insurance coverage, the uninsured population, and gaps in provider network oversight. This roundup will highlight key findings of these articles, as well as their significance for our work.<\/p>\n
James B. Kirby, Leticia M. Nogueira, Jingxuan Zhao, K. Robin Yabroff, and Stacey A. Fedewa, Past Disruptions in Health Insurance Coverage and Access to Care Among Insured Adults<\/a>, American Journal of Preventive Medicine, December 2022. Authors used data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey and the National Health Insurance Survey to estimate the association between gaps in health insurance coverage and inadequate health care access, including any continued association after coverage is restored. The period of health insurance coverage observed predated the timeframe for reviewing health access outcome by roughly twelve months, allowing the authors to view some of the lasting impacts of coverage disruptions.<\/p>\n What it Finds<\/strong><\/p>\n Why it Matters<\/strong><\/p>\n With the upcoming unwinding<\/a> of continuous Medicaid coverage, millions of people are at risk of experiencing a gap in health insurance coverage. This study illustrates how such disruptions are associated with a lack of health care access that can persist for years\u2014a phenomenon that\u2014as the authors suggest\u2014shows how loss of insurance can create more permanent barriers to accessing the health care system, such as lacking a usual source of care. These findings underscore the need for policies<\/a> that mitigate the risk of coverage gaps during the transition between Medicaid and other coverage programs.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Jennifer Tolbert, Patrick Drake, and Anthony Damico, Key Facts about the Uninsured Population<\/a>, KFF, December 2022. Researchers at KFF examine coverage trends and characteristics of the uninsured population in the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic (2021).<\/p>\n What it Finds<\/strong><\/p>\n Why it Matters<\/strong><\/p>\n The latest installment of KFF\u2019s analysis of the uninsured shows that, despite progress<\/a>, inequities in health insurance coverage persist. Cost remains the primary barrier to coverage, but characteristics of the 2021 uninsured population show that lack of coverage is not only a socioeconomic issue, but a racial issue; people of color are at higher risk of being uninsured. As stakeholders work to build on the Affordable Care Act\u2019s (ACA) coverage gains, studies like this underscore the need for policies<\/a>, outreach<\/a>, and other data-driven<\/a> efforts that tackle persistent coverage disparities.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Private Health Insurance: State and Federal Oversight of Provider Networks Varies<\/a>, United States Government Accountability Office, December 2022. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) surveyed states, interviewed federal regulators, and reviewed literature as well as federal guidance and reports regarding provider network adequacy. The GAO describes findings related to state and federal network adequacy oversight.<\/p>\n What it Finds<\/strong><\/p>\n Why it Matters<\/strong><\/p>\n Establishing standards for and providing oversight of network adequacy is critical to ensuring enrollees\u2019 access to covered services. When insurers fail to offer adequate networks, enrollees can face significant bills from out-of-network providers or be unable to obtain necessary care due to cost or the inability to travel long distances. Gaps in provider networks have a disproportionate impact on marginalized communities<\/a>, especially rural areas<\/a> that have limited health care options. Yet there is evidence<\/a> that provider networks have been growing more and more narrow, particularly in the health insurance Marketplaces, as insurers compete fiercely to offer the lowest premiums. The GAO report illustrates that monitoring plans\u2019 network adequacy and holding insurers accountable can be challenging for state and federal regulators. Recently, the Biden administration instituted quantitative network adequacy standards for the federally facilitated marketplace and has stepped up its oversight of Marketplace plans. While it remains to be seen whether these recent efforts will significantly improve the adequacy of Marketplace plan networks, they could help stem the \u201crace to the network bottom\u201d that has been occurring in many markets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Happy New Year! The holiday season may be over, but health policy researchers continue to bestow gifts onto our field. In December, we read about disruptions in health insurance coverage, the uninsured population, and gaps in provider network oversight. This roundup will highlight key findings of these articles, as well as their significance for our work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":509,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,478,1,11,5],"tags":[13,189,493,7,156,778,448,772,191,317,364,133,23,281,308],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chirblog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7077"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chirblog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chirblog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chirblog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chirblog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7077"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/chirblog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7077\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7078,"href":"https:\/\/chirblog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7077\/revisions\/7078"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chirblog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/509"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chirblog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chirblog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chirblog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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