title: Assessment of levels of hospice care coverage offered to commercial managed care plan members in California: implications for the California Health Insurance Exchange.
abstract: The implementation of the Affordable Care Act that provides for the expansion of affordable insurance to uninsured individuals and small businesses, coupled with the provision of mandated hospice coverage, is expected to increase the enrollment of the terminally ill younger population in hospice care. We surveyed health insurance companies that offer managed care plans in the 2014 California health insurance exchange and large hospice agencies that provided hospice care to privately insured patients in 2011. Compared with Medicare and Medicaid hospice benefits, hospice benefits for privately insured patients, particularly those enrolled in managed care plans, varied widely. Mandating hospice care alone may not be sufficient to ensure that individuals enrolled in different managed care plans receive the same level of coverage.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Sciences, College of Health and Human Development, California State University, Northridge, CA, USA stephan.chung@csun.edu.
authors.forename: Kyusuk
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Chung
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Sciences, College of Health and Human Development, California State University, Northridge, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Joelle
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jahng
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Sciences, College of Health and Human Development, California State University, Northridge, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Syuzanna
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Petrosyan
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Sciences, College of Health and Human Development, California State University, Northridge, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Soo In
authors.initials: SI
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Marlborough School, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Victoria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Yim
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D002140:California; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D017051:Hospice Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D019458:Insurance Coverage / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D007348:Insurance, Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D007902:Length of Stay; D008329:Managed Care Programs / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008484:Medicaid / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006278:Medicare / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008875:Middle Aged; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: affordable care act; contract with a managed care plan; health insurance exchange; hospice; mandated hospice benefit