title: Change in perceived health insurance coverage among people with multiple sclerosis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Previous research suggests that most people with multiple sclerosis (MS) in the United States have health insurance. However, little is known about their coverage or how it differs between public and private insurance. We examined whether the perceived change in health insurance coverage from the previous year differs between individuals with MS who are privately insured compared with those who are publicly insured.
  
  
  METHODS
  We present descriptive statistics and odds ratios (ORs) from a multivariate logistic regression using data from the 2009 wave of the Sonya Slifka Longitudinal Multiple Sclerosis Study.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found that individuals with Medicare were significantly less likely to perceive worse coverage compared with those with private health insurance (OR = 0.53; P < .01). Individuals aged 55 to 64 years were more likely to perceive worse coverage than those aged 18 to 34 years (OR = 2.5; P < .05), while the odds of perceiving worse coverage were significantly lower for individuals who had been diagnosed more than 15 years previously relative to those diagnosed in the past 2 years (OR = 0.48; P < .05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Individuals with MS and other chronic illnesses who can choose between public and private insurance should be aware that there are important differences in perceptions of health insurance coverage between publicly and privately insured individuals.
authors.affiliation: Abt Associates Inc., Cambridge, MA, USA (AP, LH, WR); and Department of Psychiatry, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA (SM).
authors.forename: Alyssa
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pozniak
authors.affiliation: Abt Associates Inc., Cambridge, MA, USA (AP, LH, WR); and Department of Psychiatry, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA (SM).
authors.forename: Louise
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hadden
authors.affiliation: Abt Associates Inc., Cambridge, MA, USA (AP, LH, WR); and Department of Psychiatry, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA (SM).
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Rhodes
authors.affiliation: Abt Associates Inc., Cambridge, MA, USA (AP, LH, WR); and Department of Psychiatry, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA (SM).
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Minden