Diabetes patients who have unstable health insurance may not
be getting the continuous care they need to manage their condition, according
to a study published in the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine
and reported by iVillage.
People living with diabetes usually require four yearly
health checkups to manage their condition: a lipid test for high cholesterol, a
flu vaccine, a blood sugar level test, and a urine test that can detect kidney
damage. But it seems that people with intermittent health insurance often fail
to take the tests.
For the study, researchers at the Kaiser Permanente Center
for Health Research analyzed data from 3,400 diabetes patients who received
medical care between 2005 and 2007. All the patients visited federally
qualified health centers where free or reduced-cost care was provided to
low-income patients, regardless of their health insurance status.
Of all the people in the study, 52 percent had continuous
health insurance coverage, 21 percent had interrupted health insurance
coverage, and 27 percent had no health insurance coverage at all.
Researchers found that among people with continuous
insurance, 48 percent received at least three lipid screening tests in three
years, 25 percent received three or more flu shots, 72 percent received three
or more blood glucose screenings, and 19 percent underwent three or more
screenings for kidney damage.
However, those with interrupted or no coverage received far
fewer of the recommended tests.
“Our study shows that patients need continuous health
insurance coverage in order to ensure adequate preventive care, even when that
care is provided at a reduced cost,” said study author Rachel Gold, an
investigator with the Kaiser Permanente.
Most patients report that while services at the clinics are
free, some of the diagnostic tests require a co-payment not usually covered by
Medicaid and that patients who lose coverage simply can’t afford the cost.
