Expanding coverage to the 47 million Americans who now lack health insurance could greatly improve care for people who already are protected, according to a new study in the September-October issue of the journal Health Affairs. Researchers found that insured adults who live in communities with high uninsurance rates are more likely to face problems with access to care and quality than those who live in communities where more people are covered.
Economists Mark Pauly and José Pagán compared differences in healthcare access, use, and quality between 9,552 insured adults in 10 communities with the highest and 10 with the lowest proportions of uninsured adults. Communities with high rates of uninsurance had an average of about 27 percent of adults without health insurance. Communities with low rates of uninsurance had an average of nearly 7 percent of adults who lacked coverage. Read the abstract.
