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In the years after health insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act unfurled in Multnomah County, Oregon, cardiac arrests among those newly covered fell 17 percent, researchers report this week in the Journal of the American Heart Association.
The pilot study, led by researchers at Oregon Health & Science University and the Heart Institute of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, is just an observational study—it can't determine causation—and it only looked at the one county. But, the authors argue, the data begs for follow-up.
[...] The correlation doesn't mean that the insurance coverage caused the change, the authors stress. And even if it did, it's not clear from the data how insurance affected cardiac arrest rates. It's possible that with improved diagnoses and preventative care, heart health could improve in this age range. Interventions like smoking cessation programs and medications for cholesterol and atherosclerosis could all improve health, the authors speculate. But more and larger studies are needed to determine if this is true.
Ars Technica coverage: https://arstechnica.com/science/2017/06/after-aca-arrived-in-an-oregon-county-there-was-a-17-drop-in-cardiac-arrest/
The study in question: http://jaha.ahajournals.org/content/6/7/e005667
(Score: 0, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 30 2017, @01:41PM (5 children)
"it can't determine causation"
But Ima report it as such anyway!
Over a million factors that could have contributed, but I'll let ACA take the credit! Then when money runs out and otherwise healthy people looking at their healthcare premiums go up 400% have heart attacks, I'll stay vigilantly silent.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by DeathMonkey on Friday June 30 2017, @03:05PM (3 children)
"it can't determine causation"
But Ima report it as such anyway!
What part of "It can't determine causation" are you interpreting as reporting that "It can determine causation?"
(Score: 2) by Jiro on Friday June 30 2017, @03:35PM (1 child)
Because there wouldn't be much interest in an article which says "Heart attacks went down and there's no evidence for what caused it, but maybe these scientists will research it further". The only reason it's even an article at all is that the writers of the article wanted to make a political point about the ACA stopping heart attacks that isn't actually supported by the evidence. The article relies on the fact that people will react emotionally to the association of the two in the same article, and treat it as causation, despite the disclaimer saying "can't determine causation".
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Friday June 30 2017, @04:23PM
Heart attacks went down and there's no evidence for what caused it,
There is evidence, just not sufficient to prove causation.
(Score: 2) by iWantToKeepAnon on Saturday July 01 2017, @05:55PM
"Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." -- Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
(Score: 2) by Bot on Saturday July 01 2017, @07:02PM
It would be nice to know how many other counties have been sampled to judge the impact of ACA.
The title is basically about cherry-picking. X is done nationwide, in an oregon county Y happens. OK interesting, let's look at the rest.
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