Impact of the First Year of the COVID-19 on Unmet Healthcare Need among New York City Adults: a Universal Healthcare Experiment

We examined the impact of the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic on unmet healthcare need among New Yorkers and potential differences by race/ethnicity and health insurance. Data from the Community Health Survey, collected in 2018, 2019, and 2020, were merged to compare unmet healthcare need within the past 12 months during the pandemic versus the 2 years prior to 2020. Univariate and multivariable logistic regression models evaluated change in unmet healthcare need overall, and we assessed whether race/ethnicity or health insurance status modified the association. Overall, 12% of New Yorkers (N = 27,660) experienced unmet healthcare during the 3-year period. In univariate and multivariable models, the first year of the pandemic (2020) was not associated with change in unmet healthcare need compared with 2018 –2019 (OR = 1.04,p = 0.548; OR = 1.03,p = 0.699, respectively). There was no statistically significant interaction between calendar year and race/ethnicity, but there was significant interaction with health insurance status (interactionp = 0.009). Stratifying on health insurance status, those uninsured had borderline significant lower odds of experiencing  unmet healthcare need during 2020 compared to the 2 years prior (OR = 0.72,p = 0.051) while those with insurance had a slight increase that was not significant (OR = 1.12,p = 0.143). Unmet healthcare need among New Yorkers during the first year of the pandemic did not differ significantly from 2018-2019. Federal pa...
Source: Journal of Urban Health - Category: Health Management Source Type: research