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ABSTRACT : The study investigated whether education level, race, and Hispanic ethnicity are associated with health insurance coverage status in national surveys given the year before and after the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. Data were analyzed from the 2013 and 2014 National Health Interview Surveys through multivariate logistic regressions. Lower education level, non-white race, and Hispanic ethnicity were all associated with an increased likelihood of not being covered by health insurance in both years. The findings have many implications for future education and health policies and open the door to future research of the Affordable Care Act 's competence as an intervention.
INTRODUCTION
In the past century, the increased health knowledge among individuals, advancement in preventative measures and treatment methods, and an overall raised standard of living have increased health outcomes for the United States population. Some theorists assumed that these changes would lead to the end of the socioeconomic status (SES) health gradient (Kadushin 1964). However, research has shown that significant SES and racial health disparities still exist, and in some cases have grown. For example, 2012 statistics reveal that the leading cause of death for both women and men, heart disease, has an inverse relationship with income level (Blackwell, Lu- cas, and Clarke 2014). Also, non-Hispanic black men and women have significantly higher rates of hypertension than Hispanic and non-Hispanic white individuals (Blackwell et al. 2014).
In 2008, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that African Americans are nearly twice as likely to be uninsured than whites, and Hispanics are more than three times as likely to be uninsured (Andrulis et al. 2010). Researchers estimate that the cost of these racial/ethnic disparities in direct medical costs and lost productivity in the United States, from 2003 to 2006, exceeded 1.24 trillion dollars (Andrulis et al. 2010). According to the CDC, "inequalities in health status and access to care-as well as the unequal burden of morbidity and mortality-for some racial and ethnic groups in the United States have made race and Hispanic origin among the most important demographic characteristics of interest to users of the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS)" (CDC 2010). Thus, in this study, I examine whether there are education level (representing SES) and racial/ethnic differences in...