Coverage Is Not Care — The Clinical and Economic Toll of Insurance Barriers to Care

Hybrid seminar hosted by IFH’s Center for Climate, Health, and Healthcare

Speaker: Ashwaghosha Parthasarathi, MBBS, Postdoctoral Research Associate, CCHH
Description: Health insurance coverage is often assumed to mean that patients can get the care they need. In reality, many patients and clinicians still face common barriers that make care harder to access, such as extra insurance approval steps before treatment, insurance refusing to pay for recommended services or medicines, medications not being included on a plan’s covered list, and high out-of-pocket costs patients must pay themselves. These barriers can delay treatment, interrupt ongoing care, create extra work for clinical teams, and add costs across the healthcare system.

In this one-hour seminar, we will share findings from ongoing studies examining how insurance barriers shape healthcare access, clinical care, and sustainability. Using examples from asthma biologics and inhaler coverage, we will discuss how insurance plan rules can influence which treatments patients receive, how quickly they receive them, and what financial burden they face. We will also briefly discuss a protocol in development to evaluate policy changes after biosimilar entry, as an example of how future research can assess effects on treatment continuity, adherence, and healthcare utilization.

This session is designed for a general research audience and will provide a clear, practical overview of how insurance policies can function as important real-world determinants of care.

In-Person: 5th Floor Conference Room, IFH, 112 Paterson Street, New Brunswick

Via Zoom https://rutgers.zoom.us/j/99475027371?pwd=4wnLfqFoDrGAgnnrh98aye33uG4XdC.1&from=addon