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Fewer People Skipping Care for Financial Reasons

Fewer Americans are choosing not to pursue medical care for financial reasons, according to new information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
According to the CDC’s National Health Interview Survey, 4.5 percent of the people surveyed reported not getting medical attention they needed for financial reasons in 2015, down from 6.9 percent in 2009 and 2010.
This suggests that the Affordable Care Act’s changes in providing access to health insurance are making a different in the ability of people to get the care they believe they need.
Happy medical team of doctors togetherPrior to the reform law’s passage, the proportion of people reporting that they chose not to seek care for financial reasons had been rising steadily since 1998.
This is good news for Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals, which often must deal with the medical and financial implications of serving especially large numbers of patients who, for financial reasons, have had limited and sporadic contact with the health care system over the years.
To learn more about the survey’s findings see this CQ HealthBeat report presented by the Commonwealth Fund and go here to see the CDC report Early Release of Selected Estimates Based on Data From the 2015 National Health Interview Survey.

2016-06-06T06:00:03+00:00June 6th, 2016|Affordable Care Act, Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals|Comments Off on Fewer People Skipping Care for Financial Reasons

Affordability a Challenge for Many Newly Insured

Many Americans who have obtained private health insurance through the Affordable Care Act continue to have problems affording health care.
According to a Kaiser Family Foundation report based on focus groups six states, low-income individuals with new private insurance report continued problems with:

  • kaisermedical debt
  • affording care that is not covered by their insurance plans
  • handling out-of-pocket expenses, including deductibles
  • unexpected bills for treatment they thought was covered

Such patients pose a challenge for many Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals because of their inability to afford their co-pays and deductibles, leaving these hospitals with unexpected uncompensated care and bad debt. Because they care for more low-income patients than the average hospital, this is a bigger problem for the state’s safety-net hospitals.
For a closer look at how the study and focus groups were conducted and what they found, go here for the Kaiser Family Foundation report Is ACA Coverage Affordable for Low-Income People? Perspectives from Individuals in Six Cities.

2016-05-11T06:00:32+00:00May 11th, 2016|Affordable Care Act, Uncategorized|Comments Off on Affordability a Challenge for Many Newly Insured

Access to Care Declines

Non-elderly and uninsured adults have less access to health care than they did ten years ago, according to a new study released by the Urban Institute.
The study, “Virtually Every State Experienced Deteriorating Access to Care for Adults Over the Past Decade,” also concluded that this deterioration of access can be found in almost every state, is even worse for the uninsured, and is especially great in states with the highest uninsured rates.
Learn more about this erosion of the health care safety net and download the entire report hereGroup of healthcare workers, on the Urban Institute’s web site.

2012-05-11T06:00:23+00:00May 11th, 2012|Uncategorized|Comments Off on Access to Care Declines
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