Healthcare access among low-income adults in Kentucky and Arkansas has improved in similar ways, despite the fact that the states have taken different approaches to Medicaid expansion, a recent study published in Health Affairs suggests.
The study compared the first-year impacts of traditional Medicaid expansion in Kentucky, the private option in Arkansas and nonexpansion in Texas by surveying 5,665 low-income adults in those three states in November–December 2013 and one year later.
Here are four findings from the study.
1. The study's authors found significant reductions in the number of uninsured low-income adults in Kentucky and Arkansas from 2013 to 2014. According to The New York Times, the number of uninsured low-income adults in Arkansas dropped from 41.8 percent to 19.4 percent, while Kentucky's rate dropped from 40.2 percent to 12.4 percent.
2. Arkansas and Kentucky had similar increases in the number of low-income adults with chronic conditions who obtained regular care, and similar decreases in the percentage of low-income adults skipping medications because of cost and trouble paying medical bills, the study found.
3. The number of low-income adults who had trouble paying medical bills after gaining coverage decreased more in Kentucky than in Arkansas. Specifically, In Kentucky, the number of people who had trouble paying medical bills dropped 14.3 percent from 2013 to 2014, according to The New York Times. In Arkansas, that drop was 7.6 percent.
4. The study found emergency department visits among low-income adults did not change significantly in Kentucky, Texas or Arkansas from 2013 to 2014, according to The New York Times.
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