Translating Research to Policy

December 2003/Issue 8

Expanding Access to Health Insurance Coverage

Lessens the Burden of Uncompensated Care
BACKGROUND
The latest Census Bureau reports indicate
that the number of Americans without
health insurance is on the rise, up 2.4
million to 43.6 million in 2002. This
increasethe largest in a decadecan be
attributed to continued erosion in the
number of people covered by employersponsored insurance. Responding to both a
sluggish economy and double-digit growth
in health insurance premiums, employers
have increased cost sharing requirements,
pared down benefit sets, and, in some
cases, dropped coverage altogether.
(Commonwealth Fund, 2002; Census
Bureau, 2003)
The emergence of national health reform
as a major campaign issue for 2004
presidential hopefuls shows that once again,
health care is a significant concern for the
American public. But policy makers at all
levels of government have many reasons
to be concerned about the rising number
of uninsured. Research confirms that
individuals without stable or adequate
health insurance are more likely to delay
seeking needed care until conditions are
advanced, have poorer health outcomes, and
are more costly to treat than those with
stable coverage. (Institute of Medicine,
2002-2003) In 2000, hospitals alone spent
as much as $21.6 billion (American
Hospital Association, 2002) on
uncompensated care, costs that are
ultimately shifted to private sector insurers,
public programs, employers, employees,
and taxpayers.

State governments have financed the

provision of uncompensated care by public
hospitals and other providers in a variety of
ways, and to a lesser and greater extent.
Some states have increased direct payments
to safety net hospitals; implemented
uncompensated care pools; provided tax
subsidies (especially to public and teaching
hospitals); and utilized Medicare and
Medicaid disproportionate share (DSH)
payments. Many states have also used more
fundamental strategies of expanding public
health insurance programs for the poor and
near-poor to both increase access to coverage
and reduce uncompensated care burdens.
The link between increased access to
insurance and reduced levels of
uncompensated care for hospitals seems
intuitive, at least on its face. Yet surprisingly
few studies in the research literature address
this relationship. The following issue brief
describes how the State Health Data
Assistance Center (SHADAC) tested the
hypothesis by assessing the impact that
enrollment in the MinnesotaCare program
a state-subsidized insurance program for the
working poorhad on levels of
uncompensated care provided by Minnesota
hospitals over time.

MINNESOTACARE: MINNESOTAS
HEALTH CARE EXPANSION FOR
THE WORKING POOR
Enacted in 1992, the MinnesotaCare
program was established in response to a
growing concern over the number of

uninsured, low-income individuals in the state. When

the program began, it covered outpatient servicesand
shortly thereafter, inpatient servicesfor families
with children whose income was at or below 185
percent of the Federal Poverty Guidelines (FPG).
Today, MinnesotaCare covers families with children
and pregnant women under 275 percent of FPG,
adults without children under 75 percent of FPG, and,
with a more limited benefit set, adults without children
between 75 and 175 percent of FPG. Except for
the lowest income families that pay a fixed nominal
yearly enrollment fee, all other program enrollees
pay premiums determined on a sliding scale basis,
accounting for differences in household size, income,
and number of people covered. (MN Dept. of Human
Services, 2003)
In its infancy, funding for MinnesotaCare came almost
exclusively from a tax placed directly on the gross
private patient revenues of hospitals and health care
providers referred to as the provider tax. Over time,
the state also obtained federal matching funds for
certain groups of enrollees through its 1115 Medicaid
demonstration waiver (1995), and more recently,
through available State Childrens Health Insurance
Program (SCHIP) allocations (2001). In state fiscal
year 2002, 57 percent of MinnesotaCare funding came
from provider tax revenue, and the remainder came
from federal financial participation (37 percent), and
enrollee premiums and other revenues (6 percent).

ASSESSING THE LINK BETWEEN

MINNESOTACARE ENROLLMENT AND
UNCOMPENSATED CARE SPENDING
Our analysis tested whether an increase in public
program enrollment resulted in reduced hospital
uncompensated care costs. Using data from 1992 to
1996, SHADAC used multivariate regression analysis
to estimate the effect that enrollment in the
MinnesotaCare program had on per capita hospital
uncompensated care costs. The early, rapid-growth
years of the program were used in our analysis to
maximize the likelihood of detecting this kind of
relationship, should one exist. The analysis controlled
for certain hospital characteristics (such as size,

ownership, admission levels, and out-of-pocket

charges), as well as county demographics (such as
poverty, unemployment rates, age, race, ethnicity, and
enrollment in other public programs). Statistical
methods were used to isolate the independent effect
MinnesotaCare enrollment had on uncompensated
care spending, holding constant other factors believed
to influence this spending.
Our research suggests that MinnesotaCare enrollment
had a significant effect in reducing uncompensated care
costs in the state. Specifically, we found that a one
percentage-point increase in MinnesotaCare enrollment
was correlated with a $2.19 decrease in uncompensated
care spending per capita. Figure 1 illustrates this point:
as MinnesotaCare enrollment grew between 1992 and
1996, uncompensated care levels declined.
What does this relationship mean for policy makers
and others concerned with health care access issues?
During the 1992-1996 time period of increases in
MinnesotaCare enrollment, this analysis suggests
reductions in uncompensated care spendingor,
hospital cost savingsof roughly $58.6 million. As
Figure 2 illustrates, with the MinnesotaCare program,
hospitals spent $58.6 million less on uncompensated
care than they would have without the program. The
magnitude of these savings for Minnesota hospitals is
considerable, and implies that 60 to 100 percent of the
actual spending on hospital services for MinnesotaCare
enrollees during this period would have been realized
as uncompensated care costs by the states hospitals in
the absence of the program.

IMPLICATIONS FOR THE POLICY DEBATE

AND RESEARCH AGENDA
Originally, some proponents of the financing
mechanism contended that the provider tax would
redistribute health care system dollars toward
increased insurance coverage and away from
uncompensated care, thus reimbursing providers with
increased patient care revenues. Since the programs
inception, however, some provider groups have argued
against the tax on the grounds that it unfairly targets a
burden that should be spread more broadly across the
states population. Our findingsnamely that

MinnesotaCare enrollment has significantly reduced

hospital uncompensated care burdens in the state
provide evidence that the initial policy rationale behind
the provider tax was sound.
Beyond Minnesotas borders, our results suggest that
health policy and budget analysts evaluating the costs
and benefits of state-level eligibility expansionseither
prospectively or retrospectivelyshould consider the

potential benefits of reduced uncompensated care

burdens for hospitals and other providers. Additional
research should also evaluate the impact of state access
initiatives such as the State Childrens Health Insurance
Program (SCHIP) to determine whether the findings
in Minnesota can be duplicated in other states. At least
in theory, provider savings in uncompensated care costs
due to SCHIP enrollment may be passed on to insurers
and ultimately, health care consumers.

NOTES
American Hospital Association. The State of Hospitals Financial Health. Washington,
D.C.: American Hospital Association, 2002.
J. Edwards. et al. The Erosion of Employer-Based Health Coverage and the Threat to
Workers Health Care. The Commonwealth Fund, August 2002.
Institute of Medicine. Care Without Coverage: Too Little, Too Late. Committee on the
Consequences of Uninsurance, Board on Health Care Services. Washington, D.C.:
National Academy Press, 2002.
Institute of Medicine. Hidden Costs, Value Lost: Uninsurance in America. Washington,
D.C.: National Academy Press, 2003.
Malcolm, J.K., Uncompensated Health Care in Minnesota. An Interim Report to the
Legislature. St. Paul, Minnesota: Health Economics Program, Minnesota Department of
Health, 1999.
Minnesota Department of Human Services website, http://www.dhs.state.mn.us/
U.S. Census Bureau. Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2002. September,
2003. http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/hlthin02.html

The State Health Access Data Assistance Center at the University of Minnesota promotes
the effective use of available data to inform the debate on health coverage and access. A
complete account of this study has been published:
Blewett, Lynn A., Gestur Davidson, Margaret E. Brown, and Roland Maude-Griffin.
Hospital Provision of Uncompensated Care and Public Program Enrollment. Medical
Care Research and Review, December 2003, 60 (4), 509-27.

State Health Access Data Assistance Center (SHADAC) | University of Minnesota School of Public Health
612-624-4802 | fax: 612-624-1493 | www.shadac.org
IB-08-1203