Measuring adequacy of coverage for the privately insured: new state estimates to monitor trends in health insurance coverage.
The privately insured are assuming a greater share of the costs of their health care, yet little is known about changes in out-of-pocket spending at the state level. The central problem is that national surveys with the relevant data are not designed to generate state-level estimates. The study addresses this shortcoming by using a two-sample modeling approach to estimate state-level measures of out-of-pocket spending relative to income for privately insured adults and children. National data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey-Household Component and state representative data from the Current Population Survey are used. Variation in out-of-pocket spending over time and across states is shown, highlighting concern about the adequacy of coverage for 2.9% of privately insured children and 7.8% of privately insured adults. Out-of-pocket spending relative to income is an important indicator of access to care and should be monitored at the state level.
Blewett
Lynn A
LA
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55414, USA. blewe001@umn.edu
Rodin
Holly
H
Davidson
Gestur
G
Davern
Michael
M
D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D005102:Health Expenditures / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006302:Health Services Research; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income; D019458:Insurance Coverage / Q000191:economics / Q000639:trends*; D007348:Insurance, Health / Q000191:economics / Q000639:trends*; D008297:Male; D017057:Medically Uninsured; D018803:Models, Economic; D014481:United States