Table 1.
Baseline Characteristics of the Study Sample According to Insurance Status and Type
| Characteristics | Type of insurance | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Private (n = 86) % | Common-wealth care (n = 66) % | Medicaid (n = 91) % | HSN (n = 104) % | Uninsured self-pay (n = 84) % | p-value | |
| Age (years) | ||||||
| 18–30 | 41.0 | 29.5 | 38.6 | 35.7 | 51.9 | 0.02 |
| 31–50 | 41.0 | 45.9 | 37.5 | 51.0 | 34.2 | |
| 51–64 | 18.1 | 24.6 | 23.9 | 13.3 | 13.9 | |
| Race/ethnicity | ||||||
| White/non-Hispanic | 61.3 | 49.2 | 38.4 | 18.9 | 36.4 | <0.001 |
| Black/non-Hispanic | 13.8 | 18.0 | 33.7 | 18.9 | 26.0 | |
| Hispanic | 12.5 | 26.2 | 17.4 | 56.7 | 27.3 | |
| Other | 12.5 | 6.6 | 10.5 | 5.6 | 10.4 | |
| Income (percent of federal poverty level) | ||||||
| 0–150 % | 6.9 | 40.9 | 67.7 | 54.1 | 44.8 | <0.001 |
| 151–300 % | 16.7 | 34.1 | 22.1 | 37.7 | 34.5 | |
| >300 % | 76.4 | 25.0 | 10.3 | 8.2 | 20.7 | |
| Language | ||||||
| English | 100.0 | 92.4 | 96.7 | 61.0 | 90.5 | <0.001 |
| Portuguese | 0.0 | 1.5 | 1.1 | 32.4 | 3.6 | |
| Spanish | 0.0 | 1.5 | 1.1 | 3.8 | 4.8 | |
| Haitian-Creole | 0.0 | 4.6 | 1.1 | 2.9 | 1.2 | |
| Employment status | ||||||
| Employed | 72.3 | 66.1 | 27.3 | 67.4 | 64.2 | <0.001 |
| Unemployed | 27.7 | 33.9 | 72.7 | 32.7 | 35.8 | |
| Education level | ||||||
| <High school | 2.4 | 11.3 | 24.1 | 17.4 | 15.4 | <0.001 |
| High school | 18.1 | 33.9 | 28.7 | 44.9 | 42.3 | |
| Some college or graduate school | 79.5 | 54.8 | 47.1 | 37.8 | 42.3 | |
| Self-rated health | ||||||
| Excellent/ or very good | 61.2 | 36.9 | 33.7 | 33.0 | 46.9 | <0.001 |
| Good | 24.7 | 33.9 | 32.6 | 35.9 | 33.3 | |
| Fair or poor | 14.1 | 29.2 | 33.7 | 31.1 | 19.8 | |
| Chronic medical conditions* | ||||||
| None | 62.4 | 65.6 | 56.0 | 67.0 | 62.7 | 0.51 |
| One or more | 37.7 | 34.4 | 44.0 | 33.0 | 37.4 | |
| Emergency Severity Index† | ||||||
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.3 |
| 2 | 4.8 | 6.1 | 1.1 | 5.9 | 10.0 | |
| 3 | 47.6 | 53.0 | 46.7 | 36.6 | 32.5 | |
| 4 | 36.9 | 31.8 | 38.0 | 46.5 | 40.0 | |
| 5 | 10.7 | 9.1 | 14.1 | 10.9 | 17.5 | |
HSN Health Safety Net
*Includes the following conditions: heart disease, cancer, arthritis, hypertension, diabetes, asthma and obesity
†The Emergency Severity Index is a validated measure of severity of illness at the time of presentation to an emergency department, and is used to stratify patients into five groups (Level 1 = most severe; Level 5 = least severe) for triage priority