title: The impact of insurance coverage in diminishing racial and ethnic disparities in behavioral health services.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To estimate whether racial/ethnic behavioral health service disparities are likely to be reduced through insurance expansion coverage expected through the Affordable Health Care Act.
  
  
  METHODS
  Pooled data from the nationally representative NIMH Collaborative Psychiatric Epidemiological Studies (2001-2003).
  
  
  METHODS
  We employ a novel reweighting method to estimate service disparities in the presence and absence of insurance coverage.
  
  
  METHODS
  Access to care was assessed by whether any behavioral health treatment was received in the past year. Need was determined by presence of prior year psychiatric disorder, psychiatric diagnoses, physical comorbidities, gender, and age.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Improving patient education and availability of community clinics, combined with insurance coverage reduces service disparities across racial/ethnic groups.However, even with expanded insurance coverage, approximately 10 percent fewer African Americans with need for behavioral health services are likely to receive services compared to non-Latino whites while Latinos show no measurable disparity.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Expansion of insurance coverage might have different effects for racial/ethnic groups, requiring additional interventions to reduce disparities for all groups.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School and Cambridge Health Alliance, 120 Beacon St., 4th Floor, Somerville, MA 02143, USA. malegria@charesearch.org
authors.forename: Margarita
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Alegria
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Chih-Nan
authors.initials: CN
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Naihua
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Duan
authors.forename: Benjamin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Cook
authors.forename: Xiao-Li
authors.initials: XL
authors.lastname: Meng
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003156:Community Mental Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005006:Ethnicity; D005260:Female; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D054625:Healthcare Disparities / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D019458:Insurance Coverage / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D007348:Insurance, Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008297:Male; D008605:Mental Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008875:Middle Aged; D044469:Racial Groups; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors