A pattern of health insurance policy among smokers in the United States
Abdulrasak Ejiwumi, Nathan Hale and Melissa White, Department of Health Services Management and Policy, College of Public Health, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN
Previous research has noted that Medicaid expansion has had a positive impact health care access and the quality of healthcare services among individuals with lower incomes. However, only a few studies have been conducted to describe the association between smoking and having any type of healthcare insurance in the United States. Health insurance provides access to important smoking cessation programs that are critical for enabling quit attempts. This study examines the extent to which insurance is associated with smoking cessation. We obtained data from the 2021 nationally representative Behavioral Risk Surveillance System Dataset. A descriptive analysis was conducted on adult smoking status and enrollment in any health insurance policy and variation based on race, gender, income, marital status, and level of education was examined using a Chi-square test. Current smoking status and any health insurance enrollment was also examined using an adjusted logistic regression analysis controlling for age, sex, income, marital status, and race/ethnic group. Among adult smokers in the United States (Sample size 167,079), 85.7% have health insurance while 10.2% do not have any type of health insurance. Approximately 69.5% of individuals with health insurance reported quitting smoking compared to 42.8% of those who do not have health insurance (p=0.001). Adjusting for additional covariates of interest, the odds of quitting smoking was 1.6 times higher for respondents with any type of health insurance compared to uninsured respondents (AOR 1.55, 95% CI=1.49 – 1.61). This study found that the access to health insurance is an important predictor of quitting smoking, even when adjusting for age, race, gender, marital status, levels of education, and income. Insurance remains an important enabling factor that provides the resources and supports necessary to enable smoking cessation programs and ultimately support smoking cessation. Continued efforts to increase access to health insurance are needed.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ETSU/oai:dc.etsu.edu:asrf-2131 |
| Date | 25 April 2023 |
| Creators | Ejiwumi, Abdulrasak, Hale, Nathan, White, Melissa |
| Publisher | Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University |
| Source Sets | East Tennessee State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Appalachian Student Research Forum |
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