The Impact of the Massachusetts Health Care Reform on Unpaid Medical Bills.

The Massachusetts health care reform was expected to reduce the financial burden of medical care, but literature exploring this effect is limited. In this study, we use hospital financial information and a panel data difference-in-difference model to assess the impact of the Massachusetts health car...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Publicado en:	Inquiry (00469580) Vol. 50; no. 3; pp. 165 - 177
Autor principal:	Arrieta, Alejandro
Formato:	Artículo
Publicado:	Sage Publications Inc. Aug2013
Materias:	Medicaid statistics Health care reform Medicaid Hypothesis Debt Financial statements Health facilities Insurance Research methodology Medically uninsured persons Pre-tests & post-tests Control groups Retrospective studies Statistical models Descriptive statistics Uncompensated medical care Safety-net health care providers Massachusetts
Acceso en línea:	Ver este registro en EBSCOhost

Descripción
Sumario:	The Massachusetts health care reform was expected to reduce the financial burden of medical care, but literature exploring this effect is limited. In this study, we use hospital financial information and a panel data difference-in-difference model to assess the impact of the Massachusetts health care reform on unpaid medical bills. We find that the reform reduced the financial burden for patients, reflected by a 26percent decrease in hospital bad debt. The effect was more pronounced among safety-net hospitals, indicating a larger benefit for the most vulnerable population.