Dataset Information

Health insurance coverage and mortality revisited.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

To improve understanding of the relationship between lack of insurance and risk of subsequent mortality.

Data sources

Adults who reported being uninsured or privately insured in the National Health Interview Survey from 1986 to 2000 were followed prospectively for mortality from initial interview through 2002. Baseline information was obtained on 672,526 respondents, age 18-64 at the time of the interview. Follow-up information on vital status was obtained for 643,001 (96 percent) of these respondents, with approximately 5.4 million person-years of follow-up.

Study design

Relationships between insurance status and subsequent mortality are examined using Cox proportional hazard survival analysis.

Principal findings

Adjusted for demographic, health status, and health behavior characteristics, the risk of subsequent mortality is no different for uninsured respondents than for those covered by employer-sponsored group insurance at baseline (hazard ratio 1.03, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 0.95-1.12). Omitting health status as a control variable increases the estimated hazard ratio to 1.10 (95 percent CI, 1.03-1.19). Also omitting smoking status and body mass index increases the hazard ratio to 1.20 (95 percent CI, 1.15-1.24). The estimated association between lack of insurance and mortality is not larger among disadvantaged subgroups; when the analysis is restricted to amenable causes of death; when the follow-up period is shortened (to increase the likelihood of comparing the continuously insured and continuously uninsured); and does not change after people turn 65 and gain Medicare coverage.

Conclusions

The Institute of Medicine's estimate that lack of insurance leads to 18,000 excess deaths each year is almost certainly incorrect. It is not possible to draw firm causal inferences from the results of observational analyses, but there is little evidence to suggest that extending insurance coverage to all adults would have a large effect on the number of deaths in the United States.

SUBMITTER: Kronick R

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2739025 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Health insurance coverage and mortality revisited.

Kronick Richard R

Health services research 20090421 4

<h4>Objective</h4>To improve understanding of the relationship between lack of insurance and risk of subsequent mortality.<h4>Data sources</h4>Adults who reported being uninsured or privately insured in the National Health Interview Survey from 1986 to 2000 were followed prospectively for mortality from initial interview through 2002. Baseline information was obtained on 672,526 respondents, age 18-64 at the time of the interview. Follow-up information on vital status was obtained for 643,001 (9 ...[more]

PMID: 19453392

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Project description:IntroductionHealth insurance has been found to increase healthcare utilisation and reduce catastrophic health expenditures in a number of countries; however, coverage is often unequally distributed among populations. The sociodemographic patterns of health insurance in Namibia are not fully understood. We aimed to assess the prevalence of health insurance, the relation between health insurance and health service utilisation and to explore the sociodemographic factors associated with health insurance in Namibia. Such findings may help to inform health policy to improve financial access to healthcare in the country.MethodsUsing data on 14,443 individuals, aged 15 to 64 years, from the 2013 Namibia Demographic and Health Survey, the association between health insurance and health service utilisation was investigated using multivariable mixed effects Poisson regression analyses, adjusted for sociodemographic covariates and regional, enumeration area and household clustering. Multivariable mixed effects Poisson regression analyses were also conducted to explore the association between key sociodemographic factors and health insurance, adjusted for covariates and clustering. Effect modification by sex, education level and wealth quintile was also explored.ResultsJust 17.5% of this population were insured (men: 20.2%; women: 16.2%). In fully-adjusted analyses, education was significantly positively associated with health insurance, independent of other sociodemographic factors (higher education RR: 3.98; 95% CI: 3.11-5.10; p < 0.001). Female sex (RR: 0.83; 95% CI: 0.74-0.94; p = 0.003) and wealth (highest wealth quintile RR: 13.47; 95% CI: 9.06-20.04; p < 0.001) were also independently associated with insurance. There was a complex interaction between sex, education and wealth in the context of health insurance. With increasing education level, women were more likely to be insured (p for interaction < 0.001), and education had a greater impact on the likelihood of health insurance in lower wealth quintiles.ConclusionsIn this population, health insurance was associated with health service utilisation but insurance coverage was low, and was independently associated with sex, education and wealth. Education may play a key role in health insurance coverage, especially for women and the less wealthy. These findings may help to inform the targeting of strategies to improve financial protection from healthcare-associated costs in Namibia.

Project description:BackgroundAs universal health coverage becomes the norm in many countries, it is important to determine public priorities regarding benefits to include in health insurance coverage. We report results of participation in a decision exercise among residents of Switzerland, a high-income country with a long history of universal health insurance and deliberative democracy.MethodsWe adapted the Choosing Healthplans All Together (CHAT) tool, an exercise developed to transform complex healthcare allocation decisions into easily understandable choices, for use in Switzerland. We conducted CHAT exercises in twelve Swiss cities with recruitment from a range of socio-economic backgrounds, taking into account differences in language and culture.ResultsCompared to existing coverage, a majority of 175 participants accepted greater general practice gatekeeping (94%), exclusion of invasive life-sustaining measures in dying patients (80%), longer waiting times for non-urgent episodic care (78%), greater adherence to cost-effectiveness guidelines in chronic care (66%), and lower premium subsidies (51%). Most initially chose greater coverage for dental care (59%), quality of life (57%), and long-term care (90%). During group deliberations, participants increased coverage for out-of-pocket costs (58%) and mental health to current levels (41%) and beyond current levels for rehabilitation (50%), and decreased coverage for quality of life to current levels (74%). Following group deliberation, they tended to change their views back to below current coverage for help with out-of-pocket costs, and back to current levels for rehabilitation. Most participants accepted the plan as appropriate and fair. A significant number would have added nothing.ConclusionSwiss participants who have engaged in a priority setting exercise accept complex resource allocation trade-offs in healthcare coverage. Moreover, in the context of a well-funded healthcare system with universal coverage centered on individual choice, at least some of our participants believed a fully sufficient threshold of health insurance coverage was achieved.

Dataset Information

Health insurance coverage and mortality revisited.

Objective

Data sources

Study design

Principal findings

Conclusions

Publications

Health insurance coverage and mortality revisited.

Similar Datasets

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