Declines in uncompensated care costs for the uninsured under the ACA and implications of recent growth in the uninsured rate

Declines in uncompensated care costs for the uninsured under the ACA and implications of recent growth in the uninsured rate

Collection:
Health Policy and Services Research
Series Title(s):
Issue brief (Urban Institute)
Author(s):
Karpman, Michael, author
Coughlin, Teresa A., author
Garfield, Rachel, author
Contributor(s):
Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, issuing body.
Urban Institute, issuing body.
Publication:
[Washington, DC] : Urban Institute, April 2021
Language(s):
English
Format:
Text
Subject(s):
Medically Uninsured -- statistics & numerical data
Uncompensated Care -- economics
United States
United States.
Genre(s):
Technical Report
Abstract:
The increase in the uninsured rate in recent years, as well as loss of coverage during the pandemic, has led to attention on the consequences of being uninsured. The need for medical care to test, treat, or prevent COVID-19 has also highlighted the potential consequences of uncompensated care for uninsured people. Uncompensated care costs occur because, although people who are uninsured use less care than people with coverage, most who are uninsured have limited income or resources and cannot afford the high cost of medical care, if and when they do need or use health care. To understand the potential implications of coverage shifts for uncompensated care, this analysis uses the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) to examine how uncompensated care costs for the uninsured changed following implementation of the ACA’s coverage provisions in 2014. We define uncompensated care as costs not covered by the individual’s health insurance (if they had insurance at some point in the year) or out-of-pocket payments. We consider uncompensated care across a wide range of services and settings and compare average annual costs over two time periods, 2011-2013 and 2015-2017, to assess the effect of the ACA’s major coverage expansion. We also examine changes in sources of payment for uncompensated care costs between the two periods.
Copyright:
Reproduced with permission of the copyright holder. Further use of the material is subject to CC BY-NC-DC license. (More information)
Extent:
1 online resource (1 PDF file (14 pages))
Illustrations:
Illustrations
NLM Unique ID:
9918316887006676 (See catalog record)
Permanent Link:
http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/9918316887006676