Young adults allowed to stay on parents' health insurance have improved access to care
Researchers from Mount Sinai School of Medicine have found that laws permitting children to stay on their parents' health insurance through age 26 result in improved access to health care compared to states without those laws. This analysis indicates the potential positive impact of a key provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA). The study appears in the March issue of the journal Pediatrics, the official journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
The ACA requires private insurance companies to support children on their parents' policies through age 26. The Mount Sinai research team analyzed the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System survey and compared the period before the state laws were enacted (2002 to 2004) to the period after the state laws went into effect (2008 to 2009). They found that in the 34 states that had such laws, the affected patients had greater rates of health insurance, were more likely to identify a personal physician and receive a physical exam, and were less likely to forgo care due to cost.
"These research findings will inform our understanding of what to expect from the federal health reform provision that allows those up to age 26 to join their parents' policy," said Alex Blum, MD, MPH, lead author of the study and Adjunct Assistant Professor of Health Evidence and Policy at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. "Our results predict that many more young people will have a personal doctor and regular checkups, and no longer have to go without care due to cost. These are critical components to provide health security to young people just when they are starting out on their own."
The authors conclude that their findings may underestimate the impact of the ACA. Unlike state laws, the ACA applies to all individuals up to age 26 and is not subject to limitations on self-insured health insurance plans.
"The Employee Retirement Income Security Act exempts all self-insured health insurance plans from the state laws we studied," said Dr. Blum. "Nearly half of all Americans have self- insured policies. It is possible that we only identified half of the likely impact of the ACA provision."
Additionally, six state laws were more generous than the ACA's provision and extended eligibility beyond 26 years. "Four states that enacted laws prior to the ACA imposed premium caps to limit parental costs," Dr. Blum explained. "The ACA could be amended to reach even more young adults by raising the limits to age 29 and by limiting the premiums, as some states have done."
Provided by The Mount Sinai Hospital
-
New report: How will the affordable care act affect 15 million uninsured young adults?
Oct 08, 2010 |
not rated yet |
0
-
New insured numbers show tug-of-war between economy and health care reform
Sep 14, 2011 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Rising barriers to primary care send many Americans to the emergency department
Aug 09, 2011 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Up to 220,000 California children excluded from health care reform due to immigrant status
Jun 30, 2011 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Two new studies describe likely beneficiaries of health care reform in California
May 10, 2011 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Motion perception revisited: High Phi effect challenges established motion perception assumptions
Apr 23, 2013 |
3 / 5 (2) |
2
-
Anything you can do I can do better: Neuromolecular foundations of the superiority illusion (Update)
Apr 02, 2013 |
4.5 / 5 (11) |
5
-
The visual system as economist: Neural resource allocation in visual adaptation
Mar 30, 2013 |
5 / 5 (2) |
9
-
Separate lives: Neuronal and organismal lifespans decoupled
Mar 27, 2013 |
4.9 / 5 (8) |
0
-
Sizing things up: The evolutionary neurobiology of scale invariance
Feb 28, 2013 |
4.8 / 5 (10) |
14
-
Classical and Quantum Mechanics via Lie algebras
Apr 15, 2011
- More from Physics Forums - Independent Research
More news stories
Driving and hands-free talking lead to spike in errors, study shows
Talking on a hands-free device while behind the wheel can lead to a sharp increase in errors that could imperil other drivers on the road, according to new research from the University of Alberta.
Health
21 hours ago |
not rated yet |
0
About one in four uninsured could be excluded from ACA
(HealthDay)—More than one in four of those eligible for new premium assistance tax credits under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) do not have a checking account and will not be able to receive premiums from ...
Health
23 hours ago |
not rated yet |
0
Audiologists recommend smart phone apps to monitor noise levels
After studying noise in one French Quarter neighborhood of New Orleans to determine whether or not noise levels exceeded municipal ordinances, Annette Hurley, PhD, Assistant Professor of Audiology at LSU Health Sciences Center ...
Health
May 24, 2013 |
not rated yet |
0
Young children who miss well-child visits are more likely to be hospitalized
Young children who missed more than half of recommended well-child visits had up to twice the risk of hospitalization compared to children who attended most of their visits, according to a study published today in the American Jo ...
Health
May 24, 2013 |
not rated yet |
0
Do doctors understand the individualisation of treatments?
The individualisation of drug treatments to support patients to self-manage their conditions is a concept that sits at the heart of policy, but a recent study in BMJ Open shows that there is no concrete defini ...
Health
May 24, 2013 |
3 / 5 (1) |
0
First drug to improve heart failure mortality in over a decade
Coenzyme Q10 decreases all cause mortality by half, according to the results of a multicentre randomised double blind trial presented today at Heart Failure 2013 congress. It is the first drug to improve heart failure mortality ...
Heart failure accelerates male 'menopause'
Heart failure accelerates the aging process and brings on early andropausal syndrome (AS), according to research presented today at the Heart Failure Congress 2013. AS, also referred to as male 'menopause', was four times ...
Death highest in heart failure patients admitted in January, on Friday, and overnight
Mortality and length of stay are highest in heart failure patients admitted in January, on Friday, and overnight, according to research presented today at the Heart Failure Congress 2013. The analysis of nearly 1 million ...
Feds fight morning-after pill age ruling in NY
(AP)—Department of Justice lawyers have again asked a federal appeals court in New York to delay lifting age restrictions and prescription requirements on an emergency contraceptive popularly known as the morning-after ...
Researchers identify first drug targets in childhood genetic tumor disorder
Two mutations central to the development of infantile myofibromatosis (IM)—a disorder characterized by multiple tumors involving the skin, bone, and soft tissue—may provide new therapeutic targets, according to researchers ...
Comorbidities common with alopecia areata
(HealthDay)—Comorbid conditions often accompany alopecia areata, according to a study published online May 22 in JAMA Dermatology.