Nationwide Medicaid expansion would have saved 15,600 lives, analysis suggests

Had all states expanded Medicaid under the ACA, an additional 15,600 deaths would have been averted, according to a working paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research.

For the analysis, researchers from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, the National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Bureau of the Census and University of California at Los Angeles investigated the relationship between Medicaid enrollment and mortality by studying large-scale federal survey data linked to administrative death records. The researchers compared changes in mortality for near-elderly adults in states that did and didn't expand Medicaid under the ACA. The study authors found a 0.13 percentage point decline in annual mortality associated with Medicaid expansion among near-elderly adults, a 9.3 percent reduction over the sample mean.

"Prior to the expansions, individuals in our sample residing in expansion and non-expansion states had very similar trends in both Medicaid coverage and mortality," according to the researchers. "At the time of the expansion, the trajectories of these two groups diverged significantly, with expansion state residents seeing increases in Medicaid coverage and decreases in the probability of being uninsured, and decreases in annual mortality rates."

The researchers said the decline in mortality is driven by a decrease in deaths related to disease, and that the decline grows over time, "suggesting that prolonged exposure to Medicaid results in increasing health improvements."

To read the full working paper, click here.

More articles on payers:
UnitedHealth records $3.3B profit in Q2
Minnesota hospitals ask state to investigate BCBS over new policy ending coverage for 7 forms of routine care
New York insurer opens office in hospital

Copyright © 2024 Becker's Healthcare. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy. Cookie Policy. Linking and Reprinting Policy.

 

Top 40 articles from the past 6 months