Introducing a data brief series examining all aspects of primary care access. Findings highlight geospatial, socioeconomic, and other key factors that contribute to population health and equity in access to care.
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Issue Brief 1: Rural-Urban Gap in Uninsured Rates Closes in New York State Following the ACA?
In the United States, health insurance coverage has varied widely along the rural-urban continuum — most often, uninsured rates are higher in more rural areas compared with urban areas.
In 2013, New York State (NYS) complied with the Affordable Care Act (ACA) by implementing a health insurance marketplace, New York State of Health, and simultaneously opted to further expand the terms of eligibility for its Medicaid program.
While implementation of these insurance expansion programs led to net-positive gains in health insurance coverage across NYS, effects on rural-urban disparities in coverage remained unclear. This Issue Brief explores changes in uninsured rates along the rural-urban continuum and evaluates the degree to which disparities were mitigated by the ACA in NYS.
For more details about this analysis, please see PCDC’s research presented at Academy Health’s National Health Policy Conference earlier this year.