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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
Jane Nelson Bolin, RN JD, Department of Health Policy & Management, Texas A&M School of Rural Public Health, 3000 Briarcrest Drive Suite 310, Bryan, TX 77802, 979-862-4238, jbolin@srph.tamu.edu
Research Objective: To evaluate and identify racial, regional and rural disparities and differences in access to both public and private health insurance by persons with mental illness. Study Design: Using the 1995 NHIS-Disability Survey, working age persons (ages 25 – 64) with bipolar, personality, and addiction disorders, schizophrenia, paranoia and depression were selected for analysis of the effects of racial status, regional differences and rural/urban status on health insurance status. Analysis was performed using both bivariate and multivariate statistical techniques. Simple descriptive statistics were generated to illustrate rural/urban, regional and racial differences in access to both public and private health insurance by persons with mental illness. Multivariate (Probit) analysis was performed using an index of explanatory variables. Principle Findings: Differences exist for persons with mental illness in health insurance status across racial groups, and by region and rural/urban status. Conclusions: Persons with mental illness have reduced access to health insurance (both public and private), but these differences are greater in the rural South and West regions of the United States. Hispanic persons with mental illness have an even greater likelihood of being uninsured than white and black nonhispanics. The likelihood of a person with mental illness being uninsured is increased for persons living in the rural south. Approximately one in five adult American's lives will be interrupted by mental illness (Shalala). Understanding the extent to which minorities and rural Americans seeking treatment are affected in their treatment by insurance status is important to framing policy solutions to address the problem of mental illness.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Mental Illness, Insurance
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.