Dental use and expenditures for older uninsured Americans: the simulated impact of expanded coverage.

TitleDental use and expenditures for older uninsured Americans: the simulated impact of expanded coverage.
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2015
AuthorsManski, RJ, Moeller, JF, Chen, H, Schimmel, J, Pepper, JV, St Clair, PA
JournalHealth Serv Res
Volume50
Issue1
Pagination117-35
Date Published2015 Feb
ISSN Number1475-6773
KeywordsAged, Dental Health Services, Female, Health Expenditures, Humans, Insurance, Dental, Male, Medically Uninsured, Middle Aged, Surveys and Questionnaires, United States
Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To determine if providing dental insurance to older Americans would close the current gaps in dental use and expenditure between insured and uninsured older Americans.

DATA SOURCES/STUDY SETTING: We used data from the 2008 Health and Retirement Survey (HRS) supplemented by data from the 2006 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS).

STUDY DESIGN: We compared the simulated dental use and expenditures rates of newly insured persons against the corresponding rates for those previously insured.

DATA COLLECTION/EXTRACTION METHODS: The HRS is a nationally representative survey administered by the Institute for Social Research (ISR). The MEPS is a nationally representative household survey sponsored by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).

PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We found that expanding dental coverage to older uninsured Americans would close previous gaps in dental use and expense between uninsured and insured noninstitutionalized Americans 55 years and older.

CONCLUSIONS: Providing dental coverage to previously uninsured older adults would produce estimated monthly costs net of markups for administrative costs that comport closely to current market rates. Estimates also suggest that the total cost of providing dental coverage targeted specifically to nonusers of dental care may be less than similar costs for prior users.

Notes

Times Cited: 0 0

DOI10.1111/1475-6773.12205
User Guide Notes

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25040355?dopt=Abstract

Endnote Keywords

dental Care/health Insurance/Medical Expenditure Panel Survey/dental coverage

Endnote ID

999999

Alternate JournalHealth Serv Res
Citation Key8192
PubMed ID25040355
PubMed Central IDPMC4295003
Grant ListR01 DE021678 / DE / NIDCR NIH HHS / United States
U01 AG009740 / AG / NIA NIH HHS / United States
U01AG009740 / AG / NIA NIH HHS / United States
R01DE021678 / DE / NIDCR NIH HHS / United States