Most State Medicaid Programs Cover Routine Eye Exams For Adults, But Coverage Of Other Routine Vision Services Varies.

More than twelve million US adults ages forty and older are affected by vision impairment, and projections suggest that this number will double by 2050. Although most vision impairment can be eliminated with corrective lenses, many adults lack access to routine eye care. In this study, we analyzed detailed state-by-state Medicaid policies for 2022 and documented variability in coverage for adult vision services.

Longitudinal Policy Surveillance of Private Insurance Hearing Aid Mandates in the United States: 1997-2022.

To produce a database of private insurance hearing aid mandates in the United States and quantify the share of privately insured individuals covered by a mandate. We used health-related policy surveillance methods to create a database of private insurance hearing aid mandates through January 2023. We coded salient features of mandates and combined policy data with American Community Survey and Medicare Expenditure Panel Survey-Insurance Component data to estimate the share of privately insured US residents covered by a mandate from 2008 to 2022.

Aging Out of Dependent Coverage and Health Insurance Trends, 2014-2019.

Objective: To examine changes in health insurance coverage when adults age out of dependent coverage at age 26 after the implementation of most Affordable Care Act (ACA) provisions. Our analysis also documented differences by sex, race and ethnicity, and state Medicaid expansion status.

Methods: We used a regression discontinuity design and the 2014-2019 American Community Survey to estimate coverage changes (uninsured, any private, employer-sponsored coverage, direct purchase, and Medicaid) at age 26.

School-Based Health Centers, Access to Care, and Income-Based Disparities.

Importance: School-based health centers (SBHCs) are primary care clinics colocated at schools. SBHCs have the potential to improve health care access and reduce disparities, but there is limited rigorous evidence on their effectiveness at the national level.

Objective: To determine whether county-level adoption of SBHCs was associated with access, utilization, and health among children from low-income families and to measure reductions in income-based disparities.