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Insurance expansions and adolescent use of substance use disorder treatment
Author(s) -
Hamersma Sarah,
Maclean Johanna Catherine
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
health services research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.706
H-Index - 121
eISSN - 1475-6773
pISSN - 0017-9124
DOI - 10.1111/1475-6773.13604
Subject(s) - specialty , observational study , medicine , public health insurance , health insurance , family medicine , substance abuse , public health , psychiatry , private insurance , actuarial science , health care , business , nursing , economics , economic growth
Objective To provide evidence on the effects of expansions to private and public insurance programs on adolescent specialty substance use disorder (SUD) treatment use. Data Source/Study Setting The Treatment Episodes Data Set (TEDS), 1996 to 2017. Study Design A quasi‐experimental difference‐in‐differences design using observational data. Data Collection The TEDS provides administrative data on admissions to specialty SUD treatment. Principal Findings Expansions of laws that compel private insurers to cover SUD treatment services at parity with general health care increase adolescent admissions by 26% ( P < .05). These increases are driven by nonintensive outpatient admissions, the most common treatment episodes, which rise by 30% ( P < .05) postparity law. In contrast, increases in income eligibility for public insurance targeting those 6‐18 years old are not statistically associated with SUD treatment. Conclusions Private insurance expansions allow more adolescents to receive SUD treatment, while public insurance income eligibility expansions do not appear to influence adolescent SUD treatment.