A new research paper has highlighted that people who suffer from traumatic brain injuries (TBI) are more likely to either lose or change their private health insurance cover. The analysis is based on the assessment of data of three years.
The more severe is the brain injury, the quicker TBI patients lose or witness changes in their health coverage when they need it the most. Study researchers said that majority of people receive their health insurance through their jobs, so if any change comes in their coverage then that means change in the employment.
Study’s co-researcher Eric Schneider of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston said, “Individuals who were the primary policy holder might have lost coverage because they were unable to continue in their job and became unemployed/uninsured”.
In the study, the researchers have assessed data from MarketScan, a national commercial database of people with private health insurance and their insurance claims. The research team has looked at the period between January 10 and December 2012 in which they have compared 13,558 people under age 65. They were treated for traumatic brain injury akin to individuals who have not experienced TBI during that period.
The researchers noticed that 30.7% of TBI patients had changes in their insurance coverage in comparison with 27.6% of their counterparts without TBI. The data assessed included diagnostic information about the level of injury suffered.
People with most severe brain injuries were having the shortest time between getting injured and experiencing a change in their insurance cover. Dr. Kimon Bekelis, an instructor at The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice in Lebanon, New Hampshire said that it is very important for TBI patients to have an access to continuous healthcare.
Schneider said that longer-term treatment can add difference in the long-term recovery of patients with most severe traumatic brain injuries.
A report published in the DeccanChronicle said, "People who suffer traumatic brain injuries (TBI) are more likely to lose or change their private health insurance coverage just when they need it most, according to a recent U. S. analysis. Examining a three-year period, researchers also found that the more severe the brain injury, the quicker people lost or saw changes in their health coverage."
"Individuals who were the primary policy holder might have lost coverage because they were unable to continue in their job and became unemployed/uninsured," co- author Eric Schneider of Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston told Reuters Health by email.
"People who suffer traumatic brain injuries (TBI) are more likely to lose or change their private health insurance coverage just when they need it most, according to a recent U. S. analysis. Examining a three-year period, researchers also found that the more severe the brain injury, the quicker people lost or saw changes in their health coverage," according to a news report published by BusinessInsider.
"Some of these patients receive prolonged rehabilitation, whereas others require frequent hospitalizations and multiple re-operations," said Bekelis, who was not involved in the study.
"This suggests that having continuous coverage may be most important to patients with the most severe injuries; however, in our study, these are the severely injured individuals who were the quickest to change (or lose) their pre- injury coverage," he said.
In a report published by the TimesOfIndia News, "Traumatic brain injuries account for 2.5 million emergency room visits and 280,000 hospitalizations each year in the U. S., the study team writes. Around 40 percent of traumatic brain injury survivors develop a disability, which can disrupt their ability to work, the researchers note."
Schneider and his colleagues analyzed data from MarketScan, a national commercial database of people with private health insurance and their insurance claims. The team looked at the period between January 2010 and December 2012, comparing 13,558 people under age 65 and treated for traumatic brain injury to similar individuals who did not experience TBI during that period.
By: Betty Laseter.
Review: Emerging Market Formulations &
Research Unit, Flagship Records.
For The #FacebookTeam