Most primary care physicians provide appointments, but affordability remains a barrier for the uninsured

Publication Date

2018

Journal Title

Health Aff

Abstract

© 2018 Project HOPE- The People-to-People Health Foundation, Inc. The US uninsurance rate has nearly been cut in half under the Affordable Care Act, and access to care has improved for the newly insured, but less is known about how the remaining uninsured have fared. In 2012-13 and again in 2016 we conducted an experiment in which trained auditors called primary care offices, including federally qualified health centers, in ten states. The auditors portrayed uninsured patients seeking appointments and information on the cost of care and payment arrangements. In both time periods, about 80 percent of uninsured callers received appointments, provided they could pay the full cash amount. However, fewer than one in seven callers in both time periods received appointments for which they could make a payment arrangement to bring less than the full amount to the visit. Visit prices in both time periods averaged about $160. Trends were largely similar across states, despite their varying changes in the uninsurance rate. Federally qualified health centers provided the highest rates of primary care appointment availability and discounts for uninsured low-income patients.

Volume Number

37

Issue Number

4

Pages

627 - 634

Document Type

Article

Status

Faculty

Facility

School of Medicine

Primary Department

Emergency Medicine

Additional Departments

Psychiatry

PMID

29608344

DOI

10.1377/hlthaff.2017.0959

For the public and Northwell Health campuses

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