A new report from
the CDC provides the first analysis of the population-based impact of the
Affordable Care Act. The analysis used data from the 2014 Behavioral Risk
Factor Surveillance System, a state-based ongoing survey of adult Americans
about health risk behaviors, chronic conditions, health care access and use of
preventive care. As for previous studies, this study found that challenges to
accessing care are highest for adults with less than a high school education,
are unmarried, unemployed, racial/ethnic minorities and people living in
poverty. Adjusting for age differences, the study found a sizeable difference
between states that chose to expand Medicaid and those that did not for health
coverage (85.3% vs. 79.1%, respectively), having a usual source of care (73.8%
vs. 69.7%), and experiencing a cost barrier to receiving needed care (15.3% vs.
18.5%). Interestingly there was almost no difference in the age-adjusted rate
of having had a routine check up in the last year (65.0% vs. 64.9%). The report
also compares rates of preventive care, cancer screenings and specific cost
barriers by income level, region of the country, and type of coverage. For
example, 27.8% of uninsured American adults reported that they had to pay off
medical bills over time in 2014 while only 21.9% of people with public coverage
and 22.1% of privately insured Americans faced that barrier. About half as many
uninsured American adults received flu vaccines in 2014 (18.0%) than those with
public (37.4%) or private (36.7%) coverage. Connecticut compares well in most
categories with the rest of the nation.
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Age-standardized rates
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Insured at the time of
the interview
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Routine checkup in the last
year
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Cost barrier to needed
health care in the last year
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US Medicaid expansion
states
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85.3%
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65.0%
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15.3%
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US Medicaid non-expansion
states
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79.1%
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64.9%
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18.5%
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CT
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88.8%
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67.0%
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13.4%
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