Access to Healthcare for Appendicitis Patients in the United States Based on Insurance Coverage

Introduction: Health insurance plays a crucial role in ensuring access to healthcare services, addressing affordability concerns. Insurance options have varying wait times and acceptance challenges, which can greatly impact patients in emergency conditions, such as appendicitis. This study aims to find out the healthcare access disparities for appendicitis patients in states with low Medicaid coverage.

Methods: A three-week virtual cross-sectional study (Oct 20-Nov 10, 2023) evaluated healthcare accessibility for appendicitis symptoms in North Dakota, Utah, Wyoming, and New Hampshire. Using www.healthgrades.com, data on general surgeons within 10 miles prioritizing new patients with three stars or above were collected and then analyzed with StataCorp 2023.

Results: The study was done among 81 physicians among whom, 61 (75.31%) were male and 20 (24.69%) were female, mostly MD (76, 93.83%), DO (3, 3.70%), and APRN (2, 2.47%). Cigna (n=77) is mostly accepted by more physicians than Medicaid (n=33) across the states. The average waiting period for Cigna (9.45±10.54 days) is mostly longer than Medicaid (4.71± 9.63 days). Our findings of P-values >0.05 reveal no significant associations in insurance acceptance or waiting times.

Conclusions: Although varying wait times were observed across states, no significant disparities were found in appointment waiting periods based on insurance types.