Journal article
Iowa's Medicaid Expansion Promoted Healthy Behaviors But Was Challenging To Implement And Attracted Few Participants
Health affairs (Project Hope), Vol.36(5), pp.799-807
05/01/2017
DOI: 10.1377/hlthaff.2017.0048
PMID: 28461345
Abstract
As part of Iowa's Medicaid expansion, the Healthy Behaviors Program was designed to provide members with incentives to complete specified healthy activities in return for waiving monthly premiums. We used claims data and interviews to document the first year (2014) of the program's implementation. Healthy activities completion rates did not exceed 17 percent. Interviews with members and clinic managers revealed low levels of awareness of the program's existence, deficits in knowledge about how the program works, and a variety of barriers to activity completion. Our findings suggest that the lack of knowledge hindered the state's ability to incentivize activities and that it subjected beneficiaries to premium expenses and potential disenrollment. These results should guide federal and state policy makers in devising more effective ways of educating Medicaid beneficiaries and providers about programs that incentivize responsibility for healthy behaviors. The results suggest that efforts by federal and state governments to reform Medicaid by shifting responsibility onto program members for healthy behaviors are unlikely to succeed, especially without careful thought and design of premiums, penalties, and incentives for participants.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Iowa's Medicaid Expansion Promoted Healthy Behaviors But Was Challenging To Implement And Attracted Few Participants
- Creators
- Natoshia M Askelson - University of Iowa, Community and Behavioral HealthBrad Wright - University of Iowa, Health Management and PolicySuzanne Bentler - University of Iowa, Center for Social Science InnovationElizabeth T Momany - University of Iowa, Center for Social Science InnovationPeter Damiano - University of Iowa, Preventive and Community Dentistry
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Health affairs (Project Hope), Vol.36(5), pp.799-807
- DOI
- 10.1377/hlthaff.2017.0048
- PMID
- 28461345
- NLM abbreviation
- Health Aff (Millwood)
- ISSN
- 0278-2715
- eISSN
- 1544-5208
- Publisher
- United States
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 05/01/2017
- Academic Unit
- Preventive and Community Dentistry; Health Management and Policy; Injury Prevention Research Center; Public Policy Center (Archive); Community and Behavioral Health; University College Courses
- Record Identifier
- 9983917669202771
Metrics
19 Record Views