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Gaps in Timely Access to Care Among Workers by Disability Status: Will the ACA Change the Landscape? Presentation at the ASHE Fifth Biennial Conference Los Angeles, CA Jody Schimmel Hyde • Gina Livermore June 25, 2014

Gaps in Timely Access to Care Among Workers by Disability Status: Will the ACA Change the Landscape? Presentation at the ASHE Fifth Biennial Conference

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Page 1: Gaps in Timely Access to Care Among Workers by Disability Status: Will the ACA Change the Landscape? Presentation at the ASHE Fifth Biennial Conference

Gaps in Timely Access to Care Among Workers by Disability Status: Will the ACA Change the Landscape?

Presentation at the ASHE Fifth Biennial ConferenceLos Angeles, CA

Jody Schimmel Hyde • Gina Livermore

June 25, 2014

Page 2: Gaps in Timely Access to Care Among Workers by Disability Status: Will the ACA Change the Landscape? Presentation at the ASHE Fifth Biennial Conference

2

Background and Study Purpose

• Documented difficulties in accessing health care among people with disabilities (PWD)

• Limited information on employed individuals with disabilities

• Purpose of this study:

– Assess disparities in access to care for employed PWD relative to their non-disabled counterparts• Intended to be a pre-ACA benchmark• Descriptive, not estimating behavioral effects

Page 3: Gaps in Timely Access to Care Among Workers by Disability Status: Will the ACA Change the Landscape? Presentation at the ASHE Fifth Biennial Conference

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Data and Sample Selection

• Integrated Health Interview Survey (IHIS), pooled 2006-2010

• Individuals age 18-64 who report being employed for pay in the past 1-2 weeks

• Stratified by disability status

– Self-report of a health condition that limits work (3.5% of overall sample)

• Employment rate of PWD was 24% compared to 77% among those without disabilities

Page 4: Gaps in Timely Access to Care Among Workers by Disability Status: Will the ACA Change the Landscape? Presentation at the ASHE Fifth Biennial Conference

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Three Measures of Timely Access to Care

Full Sample

Has Disability

No Disability

Delayed medical care due to cost

11.0 32.0 10.3

Needed, but could not afford, medical care

7.9 25.2 7.3

Encountered structural access difficulty

10.6 20.6 9.8

Note: Weighted estimates of sample adults from the pooled 2006-2010 IHIS. All differences are statistically significant at the 1% level. Structural access difficulties include lack of transportation; couldn’t get appointment soon enough; office hours were not convenient; couldn’t get through by phone; wait at doctor’s office too long.

Page 5: Gaps in Timely Access to Care Among Workers by Disability Status: Will the ACA Change the Landscape? Presentation at the ASHE Fifth Biennial Conference

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Differences in Characteristics Might Explain Some of the Access Differences

Has Disability No Disability

Age 25-44 33.4 47.6

College graduate 20.3 32.2

Married 46.0 57.4Lives alone 26.5 14.1

Income <100% FPL 15.7 7.4

Works full-time 57.5 79.7

Note: Weighted estimates based on sample adults from the pooled 2006-2010 IHIS. All differences are statistically significant at the 1% level.

Page 6: Gaps in Timely Access to Care Among Workers by Disability Status: Will the ACA Change the Landscape? Presentation at the ASHE Fifth Biennial Conference

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Large Differences in Source of Coverage, but Uninsurance Rates Not Dramatically Different

Has Disability No Disability

Source of Insurance Employer 55.9 70.6

Medicaid 10.5 2.8

Other public 12.6 3.8

Uninsured 20.1 17.5

Note: Weighted estimates based on sample adults from the pooled 2006-2010 IHIS. All differences are statistically significant at the 1% level.

Page 7: Gaps in Timely Access to Care Among Workers by Disability Status: Will the ACA Change the Landscape? Presentation at the ASHE Fifth Biennial Conference

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Differences in Job Features May Signal Differences in Quality of Insurance Coverage

Has Disability

No Disability

Job is paid hourly 63.1 57.0Job has paid sick days 41.7 56.2

Private sector 68.3 74.1Management, business, professional 22.5 30.5Blue collar and military-related 26.0 22.2

Firm has 1-24 employees 43.7 38.5Firm has 50 or more employees 39.8 45.3

Note: Weighted estimates based on sample adults from the pooled 2006-2010 IHIS. All differences are statistically significant at least at the 5% level.

Page 8: Gaps in Timely Access to Care Among Workers by Disability Status: Will the ACA Change the Landscape? Presentation at the ASHE Fifth Biennial Conference

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Regression-Adjusted Differences

• To account for large differences in observable characteristics by disability status:

– Logistic regression to generate the predicted probabilities of experiencing access difficulties

– Group means evaluated at the sample average for characteristics other than disability status

• Model controls for demographics, income, insurance status, and job characteristics

• Paper adds variables in stepwise fashion for illustrative reasons to gauge relative importance of factors explaining disparities

Page 9: Gaps in Timely Access to Care Among Workers by Disability Status: Will the ACA Change the Landscape? Presentation at the ASHE Fifth Biennial Conference

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Large Gaps in Cost-Related Access Difficulties, Even After Controlling for Observables

Source: Authors’ calculations based on IHIS, 2006-2010.

Unadjusted Adjusted Unadjusted Adjusted0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35 32.1

23.325.2

15.6

10.37.6 7.3

4.7

Has Disability No Disability

Per

cent

age

Rep

ortin

g Is

sue

Delayed Care Due to Cost

Needed but Could Not Afford Care

Page 10: Gaps in Timely Access to Care Among Workers by Disability Status: Will the ACA Change the Landscape? Presentation at the ASHE Fifth Biennial Conference

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Structural Access Difficulties Persist After Controlling for Covariates

Source: Authors’ calculations based on IHIS, 2006-2010.

Unadjusted Adjusted0

5

10

15

20

25

20.619.2

9.8 9.4

Has Disability No Disability

Per

cent

age

Rep

ortin

g Is

sue

Page 11: Gaps in Timely Access to Care Among Workers by Disability Status: Will the ACA Change the Landscape? Presentation at the ASHE Fifth Biennial Conference

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Workers with Disabilities Also Have Significantly Worse Health Status

• Models did not control for health status because highly correlated with measure of disability

• Illustrative to consider how much of remaining gap can be explained if health also controlled for

Has Disability No Disability

Reports Excellent Health 27.2 71.6

Reports Good/Fair Health 66.0 28.05+ Days in Bed in Past Year

27.3 5.0

Note: Weighted estimates based on sample adults from the pooled 2006-2010 IHIS.

Page 12: Gaps in Timely Access to Care Among Workers by Disability Status: Will the ACA Change the Landscape? Presentation at the ASHE Fifth Biennial Conference

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How Much Can Be Explained by Differences in Health Status?

Source: Authors’ calculations based on IHIS, 2006-2010.

W/O Health

W/ Health W/O Health

W/ Health W/O Health

W/ Health0

5

10

15

20

25

No Disability Gap

Per

cent

age

of W

orke

rs w

ith D

isab

ili-

ties

Rep

ortin

g Is

sue

23.3

15.6 15.6

9.3

19.2

13.4

Delay Care- Cost Need Can’t Afford Structural Issue

Page 13: Gaps in Timely Access to Care Among Workers by Disability Status: Will the ACA Change the Landscape? Presentation at the ASHE Fifth Biennial Conference

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Summary of Findings

• Employed PWD significantly more likely to report difficulties accessing timely medical care

• Disparities reduced for cost-based access after controlling for observable differences

– Access issues are still twice as high

• Disparities for structural access not explained by control variables

–Access issues remain 50 percent higher

• Health status explains a large portion of remaining gap

Page 14: Gaps in Timely Access to Care Among Workers by Disability Status: Will the ACA Change the Landscape? Presentation at the ASHE Fifth Biennial Conference

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Why Might We Expect Reduction in Disparities Going Forward?

– Many provisions in the ACA will increase access overall, but not reduce disparities• Removal of preexisting condition limits• Dependent coverage through age 26• Employer mandate

– Other provisions will substantially change the overall insurance rates and mix of coverage sources, particularly among employed PWD• Medicaid expansions• Availability of exchange-based coverage• Income-based subsidies

Page 15: Gaps in Timely Access to Care Among Workers by Disability Status: Will the ACA Change the Landscape? Presentation at the ASHE Fifth Biennial Conference

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For More Information

• Jody Schimmel Hyde, Senior Researcher, Center for Studying Disability Policy

[email protected]

• Gina Livermore, Senior Researcher, Center for Studying Disability Policy

[email protected]