Author Interviews, Cost of Health Care, University of Pittsburgh / 03.06.2015
ACA Enrollees More Likely To Use Medicines For Hepatitis and HIV
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Julie M. Donohue, Ph.D.
Associate professor and Vice Chair for Research
Graduate School of Public Health Department of Health Policy and Management
University of Pittsburgh
Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Dr. Donohue: We looked at data on medication use from January through September 2014 on 1 million Affordable Care Act-established marketplace insurance plan enrollees. Our analysis found that among people who enrolled in individual marketplaces, those who enrolled earlier were older and used more medication than later enrollees. Marketplace enrollees, as a whole, had lower average drug spending per person and were less likely to use most medication classes than patients enrolled in employer-sponsored health insurance. However, marketplace enrollees were much more likely to use medicines for hepatitis C and for HIV, which is particularly important given the general concerns about the rising costs of these medications for consumers.
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