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The Impact of Insurance Coverage in Diminishing Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Behavioral Health Services
Author(s) -
Alegria Margarita,
Lin Julia,
Chen ChihNan,
Duan Naihua,
Cook Benjamin,
Meng XiaoLi
Publication year - 2012
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/j.1475-6773.2012.01403.x
Subject(s) - ethnic group , psychological intervention , medicine , health insurance , health care , health equity , mental health , gerontology , environmental health , psychiatry , public health , nursing , political science , law
Objective To estimate whether racial/ethnic behavioral health service disparities are likely to be reduced through insurance expansion coverage expected through the Affordable Health Care Act. Data Sources Pooled data from the nationally representative NIMH Collaborative Psychiatric Epidemiological Studies (2001–2003). Study Design We employ a novel reweighting method to estimate service disparities in the presence and absence of insurance coverage. Data Collection Access to care was assessed by whether any behavioral health treatment was received in the past year. Need was determined by presence of prior year psychiatric disorder, psychiatric diagnoses, physical comorbidities, gender, and age. Principal Findings Improving patient education and availability of community clinics, combined with insurance coverage reduces service disparities across racial/ethnic groups.However, even with expanded insurance coverage, approximately 10 percent fewer A frican A mericans with need for behavioral health services are likely to receive services compared to non‐ L atino whites while L atinos show no measurable disparity. Conclusions Expansion of insurance coverage might have different effects for racial/ethnic groups, requiring additional interventions to reduce disparities for all groups.