Activity

Health Insurance Status and Its Consequences

Type:

Consensus Study

Topic(s):

Children and Families, Health Services, Coverage, and Access, Public Health, Quality and Patient Safety

Board(s):

Board on Health Care Services

Activity Description

The overarching objective of this study was to help inform the health reform policy debate as it unfolded in 2009. The committee assessed the research evidence—that has emerged since IOM’s 2001 to 2004 series of reports on uninsurance—on the consequences of uninsurance. Rather than a comprehensive review, the committee was charged with reviewing the literature to identify new insights not yet known or appreciated when IOM’s earlier reports were developed. The search for new evidence included the published literature on the consequences of uninsurance for individuals, families, communities, specific population groups, safety net, and other providers. The consequences might be related to health outcomes, such as morbidity and mortality; access to health care services; and economic impacts such as affordability of health coverage and its associated financing burden.