The impact of high-deductible health plans on men and women: an analysis of emergency department care.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Prior studies show that men are more likely than women to defer essential care. Enrollment in high-deductible health plans (HDHPs) could exacerbate this tendency, but sex-specific responses to HDHPs have not been assessed. We measured the impact of an HDHP separately for men and women.

Methods

Controlled longitudinal difference-in-differences analysis of low, intermediate, and high severity emergency department (ED) visits and hospitalizations among 6007 men and 6530 women for 1 year before and up to 2 years after their employers mandated a switch from a traditional health maintenance organization plan to an HDHP, compared with contemporaneous controls (18,433 men and 19,178 women) who remained in an health maintenance organization plan.

Results

In the year

SUBMITTER: Kozhimannil KB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4012427 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature