How Do Providers Respond to Changes in Public Health Insurance Coverage? Evidence from Adult Medicaid Dental Benefits
研究分析了州政府扩大成人医疗补助牙科覆盖后，牙医参与率提高、接诊更多公共保险患者，但工作时间仅小幅增加，部分通过增加牙科保健员的使用实现，且等待时间在执业范围限制严格的州上升更多。
This study evaluates how large changes in public health insurance coverage affect provider behavior and patient wait times by analyzing a common type of primary care: dental services. When states expand coverage of dental services to adult Medicaid beneficiaries, dentists' participation in Medicaid increases and dentists see more publicly insured patients. Dentists supply more visits but only modestly increase the amount of time spent working. They achieve this in part by making greater use of dental hygienists. Wait times increase modestly, with the largest increases in wait times observed in states with restrictive scope of practice laws governing dental hygienists.