Relationship between insurance status and IUD-related knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors
Contraception
Awarded 2011
Trainee Grants
Kathleen LeFurgy, MD
University of Chicago
$5,000

Given the high out-of-pocket cost of IUDs, insurance coverage has a strong effect on IUD uptake. For many young adults insurance coverage is absent, unstable, or incomplete. Evidence that cost and insurance-related barriers persist is provided by the Contraceptive CHOICE Project whereby women were provided their desired method at no cost; 58% chose intrauterine contraception when financial barriers were lifted. This research will examine the relationship between insurance status and IUD-related knowledge, attitudes and behaviors using a nationally representative sample of young women. This research will provide valuable insight for policy advocates and healthcare providers, especially in the context of healthcare reform. Under reform the insurance landscape will shift dramatically, and while contraceptive access is expected to increase, particularly through expansion of Medicaid eligibility, there may be unanticipated effects for some women. Our analysis will shed light on how insurance status is related to psychosocial aspects of IUD use such as knowledge and attitudes, which aren’t included in other large national surveys such as the National Survey of Family Growth. We will also be treating insurance status as an analysis variable rather than an adjustment/confounding variable as other analyses have done.