On October 18, 2017, NYHealth held a panel discussion with research leaders from the RAND Corporation on veterans’ health care coverage and access, highlighting two NYHealth-funded studies on how recently posed policy changes may impact the veteran community.
Panelists were Terri Tanielian, Senior Behavioral Scientist; and Carrie Farmer, Senior Policy Researcher and Associate Director, Behavioral and Policy Sciences Department.
Topics discussed include RAND’s history of work with the military and veteran population; the future of veterans-related research; findings from a recently released RAND report on the potential effects of Affordable Care Act (ACA) repeal on veterans’ health care; and an overview of a soon-to-be-released survey focusing on private providers’ capacity to deliver high-quality, culturally competent care to veterans.
NYHealth also released a related New York-specific data brief based on RAND’s national ACA report. The brief shows that, in New York State, the proportion of non-elderly veterans who were uninsured fell by 45.6% after major ACA coverage expansions took effect. If the law were to be repealed and replaced, the proportion of non-elderly veterans who are uninsured would potentially rise from 4.3% to 11.4%.