Feature

Insurance coverage gainers outnumber coverage losers


 

Fewer nonelderly adults lost their health insurance in 2015 than in 2013, while more gained coverage, according to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

The presence of chronic conditions played a part for those who lost coverage. From 2012 to 2013, 2.9% of adults aged 18-64 years with one or more chronic conditions lost their insurance, compared with 1.5% who lost coverage from 2014 to 2015. Those with no chronic conditions saw a corresponding drop from 4% to 3.2%, but that change was not significant, AHRQ investigators reported.

Adults aged 18-64 years who gained or lost insurance
The gains in coverage made by uninsured adults were considerably larger. In 2015, 33.3% of uninsured adults with one or more chronic conditions gained coverage, compared with 21.2% who gained coverage in 2013. The numbers were somewhat lower for those with no chronic conditions: 27.8% gained insurance in 2015, compared with 16.8% in 2013. There was, however, a drop from 2014 to 2015 for those with chronic conditions that was not seen among those with no chronic conditions, the investigators noted.

For this analysis, the chronic conditions were active asthma, arthritis, diabetes, emphysema, heart disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, bronchitis, and stroke. The source of the data was the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey.

Recommended Reading

Federal medical tort reform: Has its time come?
MDedge Neurology
ACA: Five tactics could lead to implosion
MDedge Neurology
Award for best hospital goes to … the Mayo Clinic
MDedge Neurology
U.S. opioid, heroin overdose deaths may be one-fifth higher than reported
MDedge Neurology
ACA lawsuits progress through the courts
MDedge Neurology
Say ‘Aloha’ to the best health care
MDedge Neurology
CBO: End of ACA subsidies would mean short-term exit of insurers
MDedge Neurology
Be alert for embezzlement
MDedge Neurology
Physicians shift on support of single-payer system
MDedge Neurology
Practicing medicine for all, regardless of differences
MDedge Neurology