Arrieta Alejandro
Florida International University, Miami, USA
Inquiry. 2013 Aug;50(3):165-76. doi: 10.1177/0046958013516580.
The Massachusetts health care reform was expected to reduce the financial burden of medical care, but literature exploring this effect is limited. In this study, we use hospital financial information and a panel data difference-in-difference model to assess the impact of the Massachusetts health care reform on unpaid medical bills. We find that the reform reduced the financial burden for patients, reflected by a 26percent decrease in hospital bad debt. The effect was more pronounced among safety-net hospitals, indicating a larger benefit for the most vulnerable population.
马萨诸塞州的医疗保健改革预计会减轻医疗护理的经济负担,但探讨这种影响的文献有限。在本研究中,我们使用医院财务信息和面板数据差分模型来评估马萨诸塞州医疗保健改革对未付医疗账单的影响。我们发现,改革减轻了患者的经济负担,这体现在医院坏账减少了26%。这种影响在安全网医院中更为明显,这表明对最弱势群体的益处更大。