Study: Patients with lower incomes less likely to have insurance claim denials overturned

Patients with lower incomes are less likely to see their insurance claim denials reversed, researchers from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the University of Toronto found (Source: “Claim denials reversed less often for patients earning under $50K, study shows,” Fierce Healthcare, June 5).
 
The new report in Health Affairs analyzed Affordable Care Act marketplace and employer-sponsored insurance claims to find disparities between income, race, education and other demographical features.
 
Researchers concluded patients with lower incomes bear a larger burden for claims denials than higher-income enrollees.
 
“We found that patients with household incomes below $50,000 per year were not only the least likely to have their denied claims contested but also the least likely to have their claim denials reversed,” the authors said.

About 48% of patients with an income below $50,000 had claims successfully reversed. But, if a patient had a household income exceeding $100,000, claims were reversed 52% of the time.