Association of Insurance Status with Patient Health at New Orleans Student-Run Free Clinics

Since the closure of Charity Hospital after Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans Student-Run Free Clinics have helped fill the resulting void in healthcare access for the underserved New Orleans population. To better understand the health insurance status and health outcomes of this patient population, 1036 patient records from seven New Orleans Student-Run Free Clinics were collected and analyzed between February 2017 and March 2020. Insurance status was significantly associated with gender, race, homelessness, and prior incarceration, but not with education. Substance use rehabilitation centers had low uninsured rates, while homeless shelters had higher uninsured rates. Patients on Non-Medicaid insurance were most likely to be prescribed a medication for diabetes (p = .01), hypertension (p = .21), and psychiatric conditions (p = .04), followed by those on Medicaid, and then those who were uninsured. This study demonstrates the benefits of health insurance and provides important data that can inform future health insurance enrollment efforts and health policy.