EconPapers    
Economics at your fingertips  
 

Universal lead screening requirement: A California case study

S.B. McMenamin, S.P. Hiller, E. Shigekawa, T. Melander and R. Shimkhada

American Journal of Public Health, 2018, vol. 108, issue 3, 355-357

Abstract: Objectives. To estimate potential impacts of California Assembly Bill (AB) 1316: a requirement for universal screening and insurance coverage for child blood lead testing. Methods. In April 2017 the California Health Benefits Review Program (Oakland, CA) analyzed AB 1316 for the California legislature, including a systematic review of lead screening effectiveness, commercial insurer surveys regarding screening coverage, and actuarial utilization and cost implication assessments. Results. Universal screening requirements would increase child lead testing by 273%, raise affected populations’ premiums by 0.0043%, and detect an additional 4777 exposed children 1 year after implementation. Conclusions. The evidence for a net societal benefit of universal screening approach is limited and is not supported by prominent medical professional groups. Public Health Implications. California expanded targeted screening to identify additional children at higher risk for lead poisoning on the basis of California-specific risk factors, while mitigating the potential harms of universal screening such as an increase in false positive tests and health care costs.

Date: 2018
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.2105/AJPH.2017.304239

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aph:ajpbhl:10.2105/ajph.2017.304239_8

DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2017.304239

Access Statistics for this article

American Journal of Public Health is currently edited by Alfredo Morabia

More articles in American Journal of Public Health from American Public Health Association
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Christopher F Baum ().

 
Page updated 2025-03-19
Handle: RePEc:aph:ajpbhl:10.2105/ajph.2017.304239_8