The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA

Abstract #40264

Kristianna G. Pettibone, MS, Health Policy and Legislative Analysis Program, The MayaTech Corporation, 8737 Colesville Rd., Suite 700, Silver Spring, MD 20910, 301-587-1600, ext. 358, kpettibone@mayatech.com

States are increasingly using legislative mandates to force health insurance companies to cover preventive health services. In 2001 alone, three states passed additional mandates regarding breast cancer screening, three states passed legislation mandating coverage of cervical cancer screening, six states passed legislation mandating coverage of colorectal cancer screening and one state passed legislation mandating coverage of prostate cancer screening (SCLD, 2001). Little research has been done, however, to assess the effect of legislation on screening rates. From a health policy perspective, the effectiveness of legislative mandates needs to be examined if these mandates are going to continue to be used as tools to address the problem of increasing access to cancer screening services.

This research will use the state laws mandating that health insurance companies provide coverage of cervical cancer screenings and 1996 Medical Expenditure Survey Panel data from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality to develop a stepwise regression model. The model will analyze the ability of various factors to predict whether or not a woman will have had a Pap test in the last two years. The dependent variables of the model include demographic control variables (age, race, income and education) access to health care, health insurance coverage and residence in a state with cervical cancer screening laws. This regression model will provide data with which to determine if living in a state with a mandate significantly improves the probability that a woman uses cervical cancer screening services.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify the various factors that influence whether or not a woman obtains a Pap test;
• Evaluate the effect of each variable on the probability that a woman obtains a Pap test;
• Analyze the predictive ability that residence in a state with a cervical cancer screening mandate adds to the model; and
• Discuss the policy implications of these findings.

Keywords: Cervical Cancer, Legislative

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.