Effects of State Autism Mandate Age Caps on Health Service Use and Spending Among Adolescents.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

Many states with mandates requiring commercial insurers to cover autism spectrum disorder (ASD) health services specify upper age limits above which coverage is no longer mandated. It is unknown what effects these age caps have on health service use and spending among adolescents who have exceeded the age cap.

Method

Using administrative claims data from 3 national commercial insurers, a difference-in-differences approach was used to estimate effects of age caps on health service use and spending among adolescents with ASD. Statistical models compared changes in use and spending between those above versus below the age cap among individuals eligible versus ineligible for mandated coverage. The analytic sample included data from 2008 through 2012 on 7,845 individual

SUBMITTER: Kennedy-Hendricks A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5806145 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature