Community-level Uninsurance and the Unmet Medical Needs of Insured and Uninsured Adults

Overview

Journal Health Serv Res

Specialty Health Services

Date 2006 May 18

PMID 16704512

Citations 24

Authors

Jose A Pagan

Mark V Pauly

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Objective: To examine the relationship between community-level uninsurance rates and the self-reported unmet medical needs of insured and uninsured adults in the U.S.

Data Sources: 2000-2001 Community Tracking Study, which includes data from 60 randomly selected U.S. communities. The sample is representative of the contiguous U.S. states.

Study Design: Multilevel logistic regressions were employed to investigate whether the local uninsurance rate was related to having reported unmet medical needs within the last year. The models also included individual and community variables that could be potentially related to both community uninsurance rates and having reported unmet medical needs.

Principal Findings: The community uninsurance rate was positively associated with having reported unmet medical needs, but only for insured adults. On average, a five percentage point increment in the local uninsured population is associated with a 10.5 percent increase in the likelihood that an insured adult will report having unmet medical needs during the 12-month period studied.

Conclusion: Local health care delivery systems seem to be negatively affected by high uninsurance rates. These effects could have negative consequences for health care access, even for individuals who are themselves insured.

Citing Articles

The prevalence and determinants of unmet healthcare needs in Bulgaria.

Maslyankov I, Hernandez M PLoS One. 2024; 19(10):e0312475.

PMID: 39471180 PMC: 11521248. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0312475.

Exploring unmet healthcare needs and associated inequalities among middle-aged and older adults in Eastern China during the progression toward universal health coverage.

Wang Y, Jiang N, Shao H, Wang Z Health Econ Rev. 2024; 14(1):46.

PMID: 38935169 PMC: 11212176. DOI: 10.1186/s13561-024-00521-7.

Unmet healthcare needs in Southeastern Europe: a systematic review.

Maslyankov I J Med Access. 2024; 8:27550834241255838.

PMID: 38799085 PMC: 11119400. DOI: 10.1177/27550834241255838.

Medical service utilization and out-of-pocket spending among near-poor National Health Insurance members in South Korea.

Park S BMC Health Serv Res. 2021; 21(1):886.

PMID: 34454499 PMC: 8399721. DOI: 10.1186/s12913-021-06881-8.

Prevalence of and factors associated with unmet dental need among the US adult population in 2016.

Taylor H, Holmes A, Blackburn J Community Dent Oral Epidemiol. 2020; 49(4):346-353.

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