Study shows health insurance access didn't improve chronic conditions

Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and Massachusetts General Hospital researchers say that health care reform hasn't affected the health of those with chronic diseases.

Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute's Department of Population Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital conducted the study.

Researchers looked at 1,463 patients from the Partners HealthCare network that had high cholesterol, diabetes or high blood pressure, and who had been uninsured three years before Massachusetts' 2006 health reform.

Those results were compared to a control group of nearly 3,500 people who were insured for the eight-year study.

Researchers thought that the previously uninsured patients that had newly gained access to health insurance would show improvement, but they did not.

'The study seems to indicate that greater access to health insurance, in and of itself is not enough to improve outcomes for patients with chronic disease,' said Lead Author Tomasz P. Stryjewski of Massachusetts General Hospital.

The findings held true even for the patients that had poorly controlled diseases, had no primary care prior to health reform, and who had received insurance in the first year after reform.

Researchers said the reasons could be how affordable treatments are, patient adherence to treatment plans, and timely follow-up care.

The need for patients to get their care from a variety of sources, a lack of focus on preventative care, and patient lifestyles could have also impacted the results.

'Our findings highlight the need for a deeper look at barriers to care for these patients,' said Senior Author J. Frank Wharam, assistant professor at the Department of Population Medicine. 'We need to look at the larger picture of how health care is delivered and paid for, and also the patient's role in their own care.'