Insurance Churn and Inconsistent Access to Reproductive Health Care among Abortion Patients in Mississippi

Autor: Kari White, Sacheen Nathan, Margaret A Williams
Rok vydání: 2021
Předmět:
Zdroj: Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved. 32:1965-1977
ISSN: 1548-6869
Popis: Changes in health insurance coverage, or insurance churn, is common in the months surrounding pregnancy, but there has been limited study of how churn affects women's experiences with reproductive health care. We conducted in-depth interviews with women seeking abortion care in Mississippi in 2016. We coded interview transcripts relating to experiences accessing reproductive health care before pregnancy and organized the codes into themes. Of the 38 women interviewed, one-third were uninsured and half described recent changes in their health insurance. This contributed to inconsistent care, as women shifted from private clinicians while insured to health department clinics while uninsured. For several women, these shifts created barriers to contraceptive use and were closely related to their unintended pregnancy. Insurance churn and associated disruptions in contraceptive use were common among Mississippi women seeking abortion in this study. Policies should support women's reproductive autonomy by facilitating consistent coverage and reliable access to contraception.
Databáze: OpenAIRE