Dive Brief:
- People who bought private health insurance through the ACA were keen to book appointments for preventive care in 2014, but they were no more likely to seek out costly specialists, according to data reviewed by Reuters.
- The Reuters snapshot of people with coverage from the exchanges at the core of President Barack Obama's healthcare reform law was provided by ZocDoc, a free online appointment-booking tool used by millions of people in every state.
- The data, covering thousands of users aged 18 to 64, suggests that "the vast majority who signed up in the first wave of Obamacare didn't have acute medical needs, contrary to expectations," says Dr. Oliver Kharraz, ZocDoc co-founder and chief operating officer. "The biggest news here is the absence of dramatic utilization differences."
Dive Insight:
This data may help alleviate concerns that Americans who signed up for health insurance through the ACA might be sicker than those with employer health programs.
However, it's hard to draw conclusions from one source. According to Kharraz, patients who use ZocDoc are typically younger, more tech-savvy and more female than the US population at large—although they "are otherwise demographically representative," a seemingly contradictory statement.
Analysis suggests that preventive health care was likely high because the newly-insured had built a pent-up demand. Also, it remains to be seen what these health consumers will do in future years, given that preventive care and health screenings can lead to more use of specialists down the line.
According to Reuters, the top specialists booked by ACA and other patients were the same: dermatologists; obstetricians/gynecologists; ear, nose and throat doctors; mental health therapists; and optometrists and ophthalmologists.