Insurance instability and use of emergency and office-based care after gaining coverage: An observational cohort study

PLoS One. 2020 Sep 4;15(9):e0238100. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0238100. eCollection 2020.

Abstract

Background: The Affordable Care Act led to improvements in reporting a usual source of care, but it is unclear whether patients are changing their usual source of care in response to coverage gains. We assess whether prior insurance instability is associated with changes in use of emergency and office-based care after the Marketplace and Medicaid expansion were introduced.

Methods: Our study draws from the 2013-14 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, identifying a cohort of non-elderly adults with full-year health insurance coverage in 2014. We use linear and multinomial logistic regression to assess the relationship between insurance instability prior to 2014 (uninsured for 1-11 months, ≥12 months) and person-level changes in use of health care after gaining coverage (change in ED and office visits from 2013 to 2014) with continuously insured individuals serving as a comparison group.

Results: Being uninsured for at least one year prior to gaining full-year coverage in 2014 was associated with a 33% increase in ED visits (0.06 visits, p<0.01) and a 47% increase in office visits (1.10 visits, p<0.01), driven by those gaining public coverage. We found no evidence of substitution across settings in the short term, often a stated goal of expansion.

Conclusion: The long-term uninsured may have substantial health needs and pent-up demand for health care, seeing more physicians across multiple settings in the year after gaining coverage as they seek to get unmanaged conditions under control. Closing the gap in primary care use between the previously uninsured and those with health insurance coverage may help improve long-term health outcomes.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Cohort Studies
  • Emergency Service, Hospital / economics*
  • Emergency Service, Hospital / statistics & numerical data*
  • Female
  • Health Care Surveys
  • Humans
  • Insurance Coverage / statistics & numerical data*
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
  • Primary Health Care / economics*
  • Primary Health Care / statistics & numerical data*
  • Young Adult

Grants and funding

This study was supported by grants from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (73923, https://www.rwjf.org) and Horowitz Foundation for Social Policy (https://www.horowitz-foundation.org) to PRS. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.