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THURSDAY, Oct. 19, 2023 (HealthDay Information) — People with Down syndrome have a important lifeline in Medicaid insurance coverage, new analysis confirms.
However the publicly funded insurance coverage program should reply to rising numbers of older adults with Down syndrome, researchers say.
“As extra individuals with Down syndrome survive to older ages, the Medicaid system must be able to serve this inhabitants with tailor-made, delicate, and complete care,” research co-author Eric Rubenstein, an assistant professor of epidemiology at Boston College College of Public Well being, stated in a college information launch.
The research authors famous that life expectancy has elevated considerably for individuals in the USA who’ve Down syndrome, from a median age of 4 years previous within the Nineteen Fifties to 57 years previous in 2019. Nearly all of this inhabitants is at excessive danger of growing Alzheimer’s illness or associated dementias and different power well being situations as they age.
To see how People with Down syndrome make the most of Medicaid companies, the analysis crew studied greater than 120,000 adults with the genetic situation.
It’s uncommon for individuals who have Down syndrome to be employed full time, so analyzing Medicaid represents practically everybody with this situation, Rubenstein defined.
For the research, the researchers used federal well being information to look at Medicaid enrollment, well being care utilization and prices. Additionally they included 1.2 million adults with mental disabilities however not Down syndrome, and 6 million adults with no prognosis of developmental disabilities, for a interval from 2011 to 2019.
For individuals with Down syndrome, median enrollment in Medicaid was eight years and median well being care prices had been practically 4 instances these of individuals with no developmental disabilities, the findings confirmed.
The investigators discovered no substantial variations inside these measurements amongst people with Down syndrome and people with totally different mental disabilities.
Most adults with Down syndrome are robotically enrolled in Medicaid by way of Social Safety Insurance coverage, a security internet insurance coverage program, in order that they’re unlikely to lose their protection.
However the research confirmed that Asian, Black, Native American and Pacific Islander adults with Down syndrome had decrease Medicaid claims and prices than their white counterparts.
The authors stated this implies that boundaries to well being care nonetheless exist.
“In our work, we see larger prices and claims amongst white enrollees, however much less in-patient hospitalizations and fewer power situations,” Rubenstein stated. “We expect this factors to white enrollees having higher entry to care, receiving extra preventative well being companies and having further Medicaid advantages reminiscent of dwelling and community-based service waivers.”
The report was printed not too long ago within the journal JAMA Well being Discussion board.
Extra data
The U.S. Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention has extra on Down syndrome.
SOURCE: Boston College College of Public Well being, information launch, Oct. 16, 2023
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