Before Medicaid expansion, people with disabilities often opted out of low income work because they were unable to cover medical expenses, according to a study published in the American Journal of Public Health and featured by Reuters.
Without working, their incomes were low enough to qualify for Medicaid. However, since the introduction of Medicaid expansion under the ACA, more people with disabilities have gained employment, according to the study.
"Policy makers in states that have not expanded Medicaid often suggest that making Medicaid available to more people will increase their dependence on public insurance and discourage them from working to obtain insurance through an employer," lead author Jean Hall, PhD, of Kansas City-based University of Kansas Medical Center and Lawrence-based University of Kansas, told Reuters.
However, after analyzing data from the Health Reform Monitoring Survey, Dr. Hall and her team found this theory does not hold. In fact, it is just the opposite. Medicaid expansion under the ACA — which gave states the option to offer Medicaid to residents earning up to 138 percent of the poverty line — was actually associated with increased employment among people with disabilities. The study found 40 percent of people in Medicaid expansion states said they were unemployed because of their disability, while 48 percent of people in nonexpansion states were unemployed because of a disability, Reuters reported.
"With Medicaid expansion, [people with disabilities] can now enter the workforce, increase earnings and maintain coverage," the study concludes.
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