The effect of losing federal coverage through the Affordable Care Act on ear tube placements at an urban children's hospital. Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol 2018 Oct;113:164-167
Date
09/04/2018Pubmed ID
30173977DOI
10.1016/j.ijporl.2018.07.042Scopus ID
2-s2.0-85050774938 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site)Abstract
PURPOSE: 15-31% of the population in a large Mid-western city is between 100 and 400% of the Federal Poverty Level, thus qualifying for health care coverage under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Coverage for their children would potentially be available under Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) or Medicaid programs. Loss of funding for these programs could be devastating for this community.
METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed 1162 charts of pediatric patients with tympanostomy tube (TT) placement pre-ACA from November 2012 to December 2013 and 1606 charts post-ACA from January 2014 to July 2015. We filtered demographics by health insurance (Medicaid/CHIP/Other), residential zip codes, identified race/ethnicity within those zip codes as well as gender and age of patients getting TT during these periods.
RESULTS: Bivariate analysis of these demographics between the two periods showed statistical significance (p = 0.0098) between White Hispanic/Latino children receiving ear tubes (pre-ACA = 3.8%, post-ACA = 6.4%). However, there was no statistical significance for insurance enrollment (Medicaid or non-Medicaid) and other races (White-not Hispanic/Latino (nHL), African American, Other/Unknown/Refused) with respect to TT placement. Using pre-ACA period and White nHL females as arbitrary reference, a multivariate logistic regression showed that patients requiring TT surgery were equally likely to be covered on Medicaid either before or after ACA.
CONCLUSION: We demonstrated that the pre and post ACA Medicaid coverage for TT surgery did not change. Underserved children did not obtain other forms of insurance during this time. This demonstrates a potentially catastrophic loss of coverage for children should Medicaid/CHIP benefits be lost to sole coverage under the ACA.
Author List
Russillo MC, Chelius T, Flanary VAuthors
Thomas H. Chelius Biostatistician I in the Institute for Health and Equity department at Medical College of WisconsinValerie A. Flanary MD Director, Professor in the Otolaryngology department at Medical College of Wisconsin
MESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold
Child, PreschoolFemale
Hospitals, Pediatric
Hospitals, Urban
Humans
Insurance Coverage
Male
Medicaid
Middle Ear Ventilation
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
Retrospective Studies
United States
Urban Population
