title: The relation between health insurance and health care disparities among adults with disabilities.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We examined disparities among US adults with disabilities and the degree to which health insurance attenuates disparities by race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status (SES).
  
  
  METHODS
  We pooled data from the 2001-2007 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey on individuals with disabilities aged 18 to 64 years. We modeled measures of access and use as functions of predisposing, enabling, need, and contextual factors. We then included health insurance and examined the extent to which it reduced observed differences by race, ethnicity, and SES.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found evidence of disparities in access and use among adults with disabilities. Adjusting for health insurance reduced these disparities most consistently for emergency department use. Uninsured individuals experienced substantially poorer access across most measures, including reporting a usual source of care and experiencing delays in or being unable to obtain care.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although health insurance is an important enabling resource among adults with disabilities, its effect on reducing differences by race, ethnicity, and SES on health care access and use was limited. Research exploring the effects of factors such as patient-provider interactions is warranted.
authors: Nancy A. Miller, Adele Kirk, and Lukas Glos are with the Department of Public Policy, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Baltimore. Michael J. Kaiser is with Econometrica Inc, Rockville, MD.
authors: Nancy A
authors: NA
authors: Miller
authors: Adele
authors: A
authors: Kirk
authors: Michael J
authors: MJ
authors: Kaiser
authors: Lukas
authors: L
authors: Glos
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D044383:Black People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D006233:Persons with Disabilities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D054625:Healthcare Disparities; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D019458:Insurance Coverage / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D007348:Insurance, Health; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014481:United States; D044465:White People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D055815:Young Adult; D001741:Black or African American