title: Battery-powered health insurance? Stability in coverage of the uninsured.
abstract: This study assesses the stability of Americans' health insurance status over a four-year period. Relatively few Americans were continuously uninsured for the four years 1996 to 1999, but a sizable number of the uninsured lacked a stable source of coverage. At least as many people were repeatedly uninsured as experienced a single gap in otherwise stable coverage. Given these dynamics, policymakers should think of "uninsured" as referring not to people, but rather to gaps in coverage over time. Reforms that stop short of universal coverage should be evaluated in terms of their likely effects on the continuity and stability of coverage.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Policy and Administration, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, USA.
authors.forename: Pamela Farley
authors.initials: PF
authors.lastname: Short
authors.forename: Deborah R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Graefe
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006801:Humans; D019458:Insurance Coverage / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D007348:Insurance, Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data* / Q000639:trends; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008484:Medicaid / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017057:Medically Uninsured / Q000145:classification / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008875:Middle Aged; D011203:Poverty / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012494:Sampling Studies; D014481:United States