Zhang Wanqing, Reszka Stephanie, Johnson Khalilah R
Department of Health Sciences, School of Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 321 S. Columbia Street, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599-7122, USA.
Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
J Autism Dev Disord. 2025 Jul 18. doi: 10.1007/s10803-025-06956-z.
The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between health insurance gaps, health care experience ratings, and the financial burden of self-payment for medical expenses among autistic children in the U.S. Using secondary data from the 2010-2021 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, multivariable regression analyses were conducted to examine the relationship between health insurance gaps and key outcomes: healthcare experience ratings over the past year and the percentage of medical expenses paid out-of-pocket. Autistic children with insurance gaps reported significantly lower satisfaction ratings for health care than autistic children without insurance gaps, with an estimated difference of -0.153 (p <.0001); the proportion of self-pay for children with insurance gaps was significantly higher compared to children without insurance gaps, with an estimated difference of 0.092 (p <.0001).. A health insurance gap significantly influences both the perceived quality of health care and the financial responsibility borne by families of autistic children. These findings underscore the need for targeted policy interventions to address differences in health care access and affordability.
本研究的目的是探讨美国自闭症儿童的医疗保险缺口、医疗保健体验评分与医疗费用自付经济负担之间的关系。利用2010 - 2021年医疗支出面板调查的二手数据，进行多变量回归分析，以检验医疗保险缺口与关键结果之间的关系：过去一年的医疗保健体验评分以及自付医疗费用的百分比。有保险缺口的自闭症儿童对医疗保健的满意度评分显著低于没有保险缺口的自闭症儿童，估计差异为-0.153（p <.0001）；有保险缺口的儿童自付比例相比没有保险缺口的儿童显著更高，估计差异为0.092（p <.0001）。医疗保险缺口对自闭症儿童家庭所感受到的医疗保健质量和经济责任都有显著影响。这些发现强调了有针对性的政策干预措施对于解决医疗保健可及性和可负担性差异的必要性。
