Health care access improves with state-level medicaid expansion

New Rochelle, NY, October 26, 2017-A new study has shown that low-income U.S. residents living in Medicaid expansion states are significantly more likely to have health insurance and to receive a routine check-up compared to low-income residents of non-expansion states. While state Medicaid expansion has positively impacted access to health care for low-income Americans, in states that decided not to expand Medicaid coverage, very low-income residents have been disproportionately negatively affected, according to the study published in Population Health Management, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers.

The article entitled "The Effects of State Medicaid Expansion on Low-Income Individuals' Access to Health Care: Multilevel Modeling" presents the results obtained from analyzing a nationally representative sample of more than a half million adults from 50 states and Washington, DC. Coauthors Sunha Choi, PhD, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Sungkyu Lee, PhD, Soongsil University, Seoul, Korea, and Jason Matejkowski, PhD, University of Kansas, Lawrence, showed that not only were the residents of Medicaid expansion states more likely to have health insurance, but they were also significantly more likely to have a usual source of care and were less likely to avoid visiting a doctor because of cost.

"Given the current political environment and proposed deep cuts in Medicaid, this work emphasizes how vital access to care is for this population. Medicaid coverage promotes the health of the population," says David Nash, MD, MBA, Editor-in-Chief of Population Health Management and Dean and Dr. Raymond C. and Doris N. Grandon Professor, Jefferson College of Population Health, Philadelphia, PA.