The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA) has significantly improved medical health care coverage for the previously uninsured population In California through the introduction of the Covered California private market. Despite these great strides and increase in access, many members of the population who are most at risk lack the knowledge to navigate such systems. As previously uninsured residents, they lack the experience necessary to identify appropriate coverage and may select a plan which does not adequately meet their needs or their family’s needs. Consequently, this may lead to risky health behaviors such as delays in seeking medical care if they are not well informed of their new benefits or lack the appropriate access. To ascertain whether these gaps should be an item of concern for stakeholders, this study will compare California’s adult self-reported rating of delays in seeking medical care. It is anticipated that those adults who were only insured for part of the year will have greater reported delays of medical care than those who were insured or uninsured for the entire year.
Using the 2015 California Health Interview Survey (CHIS), we will quantify the number of adults who reported being uninsured for part of or the entire year. CHIS is distributed statewide, allowing us to investigate our research question through utilization of a dataset containing a sample size of over 29 million adults and more than 400 variables for adults in California. We will conduct Chi Square tests for initial screening of the variables of interest. Furthermore, we will conduct a logistic regression to determine the probability that an adult who was uninsured for part of the year will delay necessary medical care or prescription services. We will compare against those with adults with other insurance statuses to assess whether significant differences exist. This study informs advocates and legislators working to bring the benefits of the ACA to all residents of California by highlighting the gap in public outreach and education on plan availability. Additionally, stakeholders may consider further outreach to educate regarding at-risk populations regarding the dangers of behaviors such as delays in seeking medical care.
