Association of health insurance coverage disruptions with mortality risk among US working-age adults

Having health insurance coverage is strongly associated with better access to care and health outcomes in the US. Accumulating evidence suggests that health insurance coverage disruptions—periods without insurance—are associated with lacking a usual source of care and delaying or forgoing care due to cost. Most research has been conducted among Medicaid enrollees; little is known about health effects of coverage disruptions among privately insured adults, the majority of the working-age population. In this study, we evaluated associations of a prior coverage disruption with mortality risk among large, nationally representative cohorts of working-age adults with either public or private health insurance coverage. (author introduction)