Higher health insurance cost-sharing impacts asthma care for low-income kids

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-05/tjnj-hhi051614.php

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 19-May-2014
Contact: Kory Zhao
The JAMA Network Journals
Higher health insurance cost-sharing impacts asthma care for low-income kids

Parents in low-income families were less likely to delay asthma care for their children or avoid taking their children to see a doctor is they had lower vs. higher levels of health insurance cost-sharing.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) includes subsidies to reduce cost-sharing for low-income families. Limited information about the effects of cost-sharing on care for children is available to guide such efforts.

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In a related editorial, Aaron E. Carroll, M.D., M.S., of the Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, writes: "Their findings are not surprising, given our prior knowledge about cost sharing."

"The Affordable Care Act will do a great deal to reduce the numbers of the uninsured in the United States. However, having insurance is just the first step toward improved access. Health care is still expensive, and obtaining it is still difficult for many in the United States. As Fung and colleagues have shown us, we cannot ignore cost sharing, especially with respect to lower-income individuals obtaining commercial insurance through the exchanges," Carroll concludes.