Being Uninsured Is Bad for Your Health: Can Medical Homes Play a Role in Treating the Uninsurance Ailment?

Abstract

In the United States, stable health insurance coverage is associated with improved health outcomes. A lack of insurance is associated with premature death from preventable causes. Although primary care clinicians are often in a position to see firsthand the impact that being uninsured has on patients, most ambulatory care clinics are not actively involved in helping patients obtain health insurance, retain their coverage, or make important health insurance coverage decisions. The magnitude and complexity of the US “uninsurance” problem, as well as recent federal initiatives to expand coverage options, inspire important questions: Can medical homes play a more active role in helping patients find and keep insurance coverage? How can basic tenets from the chronic care model be operationalized to build systems to treat the uninsurance ailment? Creating effective processes and tools within the medical home to keep a patient insured may be as important to improving population health as helping a patient maintain a normal blood pressure. Similar system-level interventions could be used to support both endeavors.