Table 1.
Demographics of patients undergoing surgery before and after Massachusetts healthcare reform
| Massachusetts | Control | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pre-reform | Post-reform | Pre-reform | Post-reform | ||
| Surgery (%) | Discretionary | 65.4 | 69.1 | 60.8 | 62.6 |
| Non-discretionary | 34.6 | 30.9 | 39.2 | 37.4 | |
| Age (%) | 19–40 | 23.8 | 20.3 | 26.9 | 24.5 |
| 40–64 | 76.1 | 79.7 | 73.1 | 75.5 | |
| Female (%) | 50.1 | 51.4 | 50.4 | 51.5 | |
| Race (%) | White | 87.4 | 85.9 | 72.3 | 69.7 |
| Black | 4.3 | 5.0 | 10.2 | 10.6 | |
| Hispanic | 4.8 | 6.0 | 10.1 | 11.2 | |
| Other | 3.5 | 3.1 | 7.4 | 8.5 | |
| Payer (%) | Medicare | 7.5 | 9.1 | 6.7 | 7.6 |
| Medicaid | 8.1 | 9.8 | 8.5 | 10.5 | |
| Private | 75.2 | 72.1 | 70.5 | 67.3 | |
| Self-pay | 1.4 | 0.7 | 5.6 | 5.8 | |
| Free care | 3.3 | 1.4 | 0.1 | 0.1 | |
| Other | 4.5 | 7.0 | 8.6 | 8.8 | |
Patients undergoing surgery during pre and post-reform periods in Massachusetts and control periods are compared. The pre and post-reform transition point is defined as July 2007. In the payer categories, “Other” includes worker’s compensation, Health Safety Net, other government payment, other non-managed care plans, and CommCare (a free or subsidized health care insurance program)