The Underserved Have Less Access to Employer-Sponsored Telemedicine Coverage

Alice Zawacki, Thomas A. Hegland and G. Edward Miller

Working Papers from U.S. Census Bureau, Center for Economic Studies

Abstract: Telemedicine has been proposed as one means of improving health care access for underserved communities, and information about insurance coverage for telemedicine (TMC) is important in understanding its utilization and provision. We use 2018-2019 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey-Insurance Component data on employer-sponsored coverage to examine pre-pandemic TMC relative to employer, worker, and health plan characteristics. We find that the share of employees in private sector establishments offering TMC was lower in the most rural counties, in smaller firms, in establishments without unionized employees, and in establishments where most workers were low wage, part-time and older when compared to other establishments. These findings reflect differences across establishments in insurance offers, as well as differences in TMC conditional on an insurance offer, which suggests that TMC may function as a premium plan feature with limited availability and potential support for improving healthcare access for the underserved.

JEL-codes: I13 J32 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 15 pages
Date: 2022-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea
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https://www2.census.gov/ces/wp/2022/CES-WP-22-40.pdf First version, 2022 (application/pdf)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cen:wpaper:22-40

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