(Press-News.org) HOUSTON – (July 8, 2014) – Half of Texans who are eligible for premium subsidies under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and who looked for health plans in the ACA's Health Insurance Marketplace said cost was the main reason they didn't enroll in a plan. That's just one of the findings in a report released today by Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy and the Episcopal Health Foundation.
The report specifically looked at lower- to middle-income families in Texas who don't have access to health insurance through an employer and who earn too much to qualify for public programs. That group includes approximately 2 million uninsured Texans and is a key target population of the ACA. The report found that virtually all of the target population knew about the ACA Marketplace and the available subsidies for health insurance premiums.
In addition, the report found that one-third of those aware of the marketplace looked for information on health insurance plans. Another one-third planned to look for that information in the future.
However, many Texans who looked for plans in the ACA Marketplace still didn't enroll in a health insurance plan. The report found half of those who did not enroll said costs were the main reason – either costs were too high or they didn't have enough money to enroll at that time.
The report is the sixth in a series on the implementation of the ACA in Texas. It was co-authored by Elena Marks, the president and CEO of the Episcopal Health Foundation and a health policy scholar at the Baker Institute, and Vivian Ho, the chair in health economics at the Baker Institute, a professor of economics at Rice and a professor of medicine at Baylor College of Medicine.
"The affordability of Health Insurance Marketplace plans, even with subsidies, has been an open question from the outset," Marks said. "Perceptions about affordability may be preventing some Texans from enrolling in a plan. The intense, politically charged dialogue around the ACA in the state may have created misconceptions about the costs."
Uninsured Texans may also think health coverage is too expensive because the cost is new to them, the report found. Even with subsidies, some families still would pay some amount for coverage – an added expense, regardless of the amount, not previously part of the family budget.
Also, the report found there's evidence many uninsured don't value health insurance or believe they can still use charity care programs that offer free or discounted medical care on a pay-as-you-go basis.
As the report showed, most of the uninsured knew about the ACA Marketplace and two-thirds looked, or planned to look, for information on health insurance plans. However, the report also discovered 29 percent not only hadn't looked for marketplace information, they also didn't plan to look for information in the future.
"Many of those who didn't buy insurance will pay a penalty of $95 or 1 percent of income on their 2014 tax return," Ho said. "That penalty rises to $695 or 2.5 percent of income in 2016, which will likely lead to more people enrolling in coming years."
The Health Reform Monitoring Survey (HRMS)-Texas report is based on a national project that provides timely information on implementation issues under the Affordable Care Act and changes in health insurance coverage and related health outcomes. The Episcopal Health Foundation and Baker Institute are partnering to fund studies of and report on key factors about Texans obtained from an expanded representative sample of Texas residents. Today's report contains responses from 1,595 Texans in September 2013 and 1,538 in March 2014.
INFORMATION:
The survey was developed by the Urban Institute, conducted by the company GfK and jointly funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Ford Foundation and the Urban Institute.
The analyses and conclusions based on HRMS-Texas are those of the authors and do not represent the views of the Urban Institute, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation or the Ford Foundation.
For more information or to schedule an interview with Marks, contact Brian Sasser, communications director at the Episcopal Health Foundation, at bsasser@episcopalhealth.org or 832-795-9404.
To schedule an interview with Ho, contact Jeff Falk, associate director of national media relations at Rice, at jfalk@rice.edu or 713-348-6775.
Related materials:
Report: http://bakerinstitute.org/media/files/files/9e39b1a8/Pub-HPF-EHF_Issue_6-070814.pdf
The Episcopal Health Foundation: http://www.episcopalhealth.org
Marks bio: http://bakerinstitute.org/experts/elena-m-marks
Ho bio: http://bakerinstitute.org/experts/vivian-ho
Founded in 1993, Rice University's Baker Institute ranks among the top 15 university-affiliated think tanks in the world. As a premier nonpartisan think tank, the institute conducts research on domestic and foreign policy issues with the goal of bridging the gap between the theory and practice of public policy. The institute's strong track record of achievement reflects the work of its endowed fellows, Rice University faculty scholars and staff, coupled with its outreach to the Rice student body through fellow-taught classes — including a public policy course — and student leadership and internship programs. Learn more about the institute at http://www.bakerinstitute.org or on the institute's blog, http://blogs.chron.com/bakerblog.
The Episcopal Health Foundation is a new entity established through the 2013 sale of the St. Luke's Episcopal Health System to Catholic Health Initiatives. The Foundation supports the work of the Episcopal Diocese of Texas and has assets of $1 billion. The mission of the Foundation is to advance the Kingdom of God with specific focus on human health and well-being through grants, research, and initiatives in support of the work of the Diocese. Episcopal Health Foundation embraces the World Health Organization's broad, holistic definition of health: a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease.
Survey: Many Texans eligible for subsidies from the ACA still believe coverage is too expensive
2014-07-08
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
CU researcher finds nurse-family partnership reduces preventable mortality
2014-07-08
AURORA, Colo. (July 8, 2014) – Low-income mothers and their first-born children who received home visits from nurses were less likely to die from preventable causes during a two-decade period studied by a University of Colorado School of Medicine professor, according to a report published in JAMA Pediatrics – a leading, peer-reviewed journal of the American Medical Association.
David Olds, PhD, professor of pediatrics and lead investigator of the study, reviewed data covering a two-decade period to understand the impact of the Nurse-Family Partnership® (NFP) program and ...
Siblings may have a greater influence than parents on a child's obesity risk
2014-07-08
While it is well known that a child's risk of obesity is greater if he or she has obese family members, whether the type of relationship affects that risk has not been given as much attention. A new report led by an investigator at the Mongan Institute for Health Policy at Massachusetts General Hospital finds that the risk associated with having an obese sibling is more than twice as great as that of having an obese parent, and that risk is even stronger among siblings of the same gender. The study will appear in the October issue of the American Journal of Preventive ...
No rest for the bleary
2014-07-08
The familiar cry in the night, followed by a blind shuffle to the crib, a feeding, a diaper change, and a final retreat back into oblivion — every hour on the hour. Such is the sleep pattern of most new parents, who report feeling more exhausted in the morning than when they went to bed the night before.
Now, in the first study of its kind, Prof. Avi Sadeh and a team of researchers from Tel Aviv University's School of Psychological Sciences explain why interrupted sleep can be as physically detrimental as no sleep at all. In the study, published in the journal Sleep Medicine, ...
Study shows link between inflammation in maternal blood and schizophrenia in offspring
2014-07-08
Maternal inflammation as indicated by the presence in maternal blood of early gestational C-reactive protein—an established inflammatory biomarker—appears to be associated with greater risk for schizophrenia in offspring, according to researchers at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University Medical Center, and the New York State Psychiatric Institute. The study, "Elevated Maternal C-Reactive Protein and Increased Risk of Schizophrenia in a National Birth Cohort," is published online in the American Journal of Psychiatry.
The Columbia researchers ...
Variations in key gene predict cancer patients' risk for radiation-induced toxicity
2014-07-08
(NEW YORK – July 8, 2014) Key genetic variants may affect how cancer patients respond to radiation treatments, according to a study published this week in Nature Genetics. The research team, which included researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, found that variations in the TANC1 gene are associated with a greater risk for radiation-driven side effects in prostate cancer patients, which include incontinence, impotence and diarrhea.
The current results are based on a genome-wide association study, a type of study in which researchers examine numerous ...
Damage assessment of runaway barges at Marseilles lock and dam
2014-07-08
URBANA, Ill. - It takes a synchronized lock and dam system—operating like a motorized flight of stairs on the Illinois River, using gravity to move the water—to maintain a minimum depth for boat traffic. A disastrous domino effect occurred on April 19, 2013, when heavy rain and runoff, strong winds, and river currents resulted in seven unmoored barges crashing into the dam at Marseilles. University of Illinois soil scientist Ken Olson studied the extensive repercussions of the incident.
"Four of the seven barges partially sank, blocking the southernmost submersible spillway ...
Cosmic accounting reveals missing light crisis
2014-07-08
Pasadena, CA—Something is amiss in the Universe. There appears to be an enormous deficit of ultraviolet light in the cosmic budget.
The vast reaches of empty space between galaxies are bridged by tendrils of hydrogen and helium, which can be used as a precise "light meter." In a recent study published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, a team of scientists finds that the light from known populations of galaxies and quasars is not nearly enough to explain observations of intergalactic hydrogen. The difference is a stunning 400 percent.
"It's as if you're in a big, ...
More California gas stations can provide H2 than previously thought, Sandia study says
2014-07-08
LIVERMORE, Calif. — A study by researchers at Sandia National Laboratories concludes that a number of existing gas stations in California can safely store and dispense hydrogen, suggesting a broader network of hydrogen fueling stations may be within reach.
The report examined 70 commercial gasoline stations in the state of California and sought to determine which, if any, could integrate hydrogen fuel, based on the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) hydrogen technologies code published in 2011.
The study determined that 14 of the 70 gas stations involved in ...
Logging and burning cause the loss of 54 million tons of carbon a year in Amazonia
2014-07-08
A study conducted by scientists in Brazil and the United Kingdom has quantified the impact that selective logging, partial destruction by burning, and fragmentation resulting from the development of pastures and plantations have had on the Amazon rainforest. In combination, these factors could be removing nearly 54 million tons of carbon from the forest each year, introduced into the atmosphere as greenhouse gases. This total represents up to 40% of the carbon loss caused by deforestation in the region.
The study, which was conducted by 10 researchers from 11 institutions ...
Earthquakes explained? New research shows friction and fracture are closely related
2014-07-08
Overturning conventional wisdom stretching all the way to Leonardo da Vinci, new Hebrew University of Jerusalem research shows that how things break (fracture) and how things slide (friction) are closely interrelated. The breakthrough study marks an important advance in understanding friction and fracture, with implications for describing the mechanics that drive earthquakes.
Over 500 years ago, da Vinci described how rough blocks slide over one another, providing the basis for our understanding of friction to this day. The phenomenon of fracture was always considered ...