American journal of preventive medicine
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High-deductible health plans are often touted to motivate patients to become informed healthcare purchasers; however, racial/ethnic minorities report that high deductibles prevent them from seeking the needed care. One proposed way to mitigate the financial burden of high-deductible health plans is the use of health savings plans. This cross-sectional study investigates whether chronically ill Blacks and Hispanics enrolled in high-deductible health plans experience greater access to care difficulties than non-Hispanic Whites and whether racial/ethnic disparities are mitigated by the use of health savings plans. ⋯ Understanding how health savings plans function to improve access to care within racial/ethnic minority groups may help to inform policy approaches related to their use.
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The use of mail-order pharmacies is generally associated with lower healthcare costs and improved medication adherence. To promote the use of mail-order pharmacies, it is important to understand the time trends in their use and whether these trends vary by population subgroups. ⋯ The prevalence of mail-order pharmacy use has declined in recent years and has shown significant variation across population subgroups. Future research should examine whether the declining trends and variation in use may influence the management of chronic conditions and the disparities in health and healthcare costs.
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The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act requires many health insurance plans to cover certain clinical preventive services in network with no cost sharing. This study describes the utilization trends of 8 clinical preventive services by insurance status and analyzes utilization disparities. ⋯ Despite the reduction of cost barriers for the insured, there were larger increases in utilization among the uninsured, and a narrowed gap was observed over time for some services. Ongoing efforts to monitor the trends in clinical preventive services utilization may help identify and evaluate the strategies designed to increase their use.
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Several U.S. states have implemented paid family leave policies for new parents. Few studies have evaluated the impacts of U.S. paid family leave policies on families' health. This study tests the hypothesis that paid family leave policies in California and New Jersey improved parent and child mental health. ⋯ Study findings suggest that state paid family leave policies improved mental health among parents, with mixed findings among children, including positive, negative, or no changes in mental health, depending on the subgroup. Future work should clarify how more recent state policies, some of which provide more generous benefits and job protections for low-income parents, influence health among affected families.