American journal of obstetrics and gynecology
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Am. J. Obstet. Gynecol. · Jul 2018
The impact of cost sharing on women's use of annual examinations and effective contraception.
We sought to describe the relationship between the elimination of out-of-pocket costs and women's use of preventive care office visits and long-acting reversible contraception after accounting for baseline levels of cost sharing. ⋯ Out-of-pocket costs were low prior to the Affordable Care Act. Eliminating costs was associated with increases in preventive service use among those with high levels of cost, but effect sizes were low, suggesting that cost is only 1 barrier. Failing to recognize that cost sharing was already low could cause us to falsely conclude that the elimination of cost sharing was ineffective.