Association Between Depressive Symptoms or Depression and Health Outcomes for Low Back Pain: a Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

Background: Study results vary on whether depressive symptoms are associated with worse prognosis for low back pain (LBP). We assessed the association between depressive symptoms or depression and health outcomes in persons with LBP.

Methods: We searched MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, and PsycINFO from inception to June 2020.

Potential Effects Of Eliminating The Individual Mandate Penalty In California.

The tax penalty for noncompliance with the Affordable Care Act's individual mandate is to be eliminated starting in 2019. We investigated the potential impact of this change on enrollees' decisions to purchase insurance and on individual-market premiums. In a survey of enrollees in the individual market in California in 2017, 19 percent reported that they would not have purchased insurance had there been no penalty.

Adverse Selection into and within the Individual Health Insurance Market in California in 2014.

Objective: The Affordable Care Act (ACA) introduced reforms to mitigate adverse selection into and within the individual insurance market. We examined the traits and predicted medical spending of enrollees in California post-ACA.

Data Sources: Survey of 2,103 enrollees in individual market plans, on- and off-exchange, in 2014.

Nearly One-Third Of Enrollees In California's Individual Market Missed Opportunities To Receive Financial Assistance.

The Affordable Care Act includes financial assistance that reduces both premiums and cost-sharing amounts for lower-income Americans, to increase the affordability of health insurance coverage and care. To receive both types of assistance, enrollees must purchase a qualified health plan through a public insurance exchange, and those eligible for the cost-sharing reduction must purchase a silver-tier plan. We estimate that 31 percent of individual-market enrollees in California who were likely eligible for financial assistance purchased plans that were not silver tier or that were not sold on the state's exchange and thus missed opportunities to receive premium or cost-sharing assistance or both.