Affordable Care Act's Preventive Services Coverage Mandate and Receipt of Fluoride Varnish.

ABSTRACT:

Background and objectives

The Affordable Care Act required private insurers to cover a set of recommended preventive services without cost-sharing. This included coverage of fluoride varnish (FV) applications without cost-sharing for children aged 1 through 5 during medical visits, an evidence-based treatment that prevents tooth decay. We examined if this coverage mandate was associated with more young children receiving FV.

Methods

Using the Massachusetts All-Payer Claims Database (2014-2018), we examined the likelihood that a privately insured child received FV during a medical visit in a month. We used a difference-in-differences approach, comparing those included in the coverage mandate (aged 1-5) to those excluded from the mandate (aged 6-9), before and after the mandat

SUBMITTER: Kranz AM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11524042 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature