Medicaid Has Measurable Health Benefits For Poor

Low-income people with Medicaid coverage go to the doctor more regularly, have reduced financial stress and generally report feeling happier and healthier than their uninsured cohorts who must depend on safety net services like free clinics or emergency rooms to access care—or forgo it altogether. This may seem obvious, but until the release today of what one expert calls an “historic” working paper published on the website of the National Bureau of Economic Research, there was little evidence to back up the oft-stated benefits of extending affordable coverage to the uninsured....

...The study grew out of an unusual state lottery conducted in Oregon in 2008 that added 10,000 additional low-income, uninsured adults (living at 100% of the poverty line) to its Medicaid program—Oregon Health Plan Standard. In 2002, at its peak, OHP Standard had 110,000 people enrolled. But facing budget shortfalls, the state capped enrollment in 2004 and by 2008, only 19,000 adults remained—the rest lost to attrition. That’s when Oregon received a federal waiver to hold the computerized lottery to expand the plan. A total of about 90,000 people applied for the 10,000 openings....

...Their findings were irrefutable: “expanding low income adults' access to Medicaid substantially increases health care use, reduces financial strain on covered individuals, and improves their self-reported health and well-being,” according to the paper. Specifically, adults with insurance coverage were 55 percent more likely to visit a doctor, 30 percent more likely to be admitted to the hospital and 15 percent more likely to take prescription drugs, according to the NBER paper. There were also measurable gains in use of preventive services; with a 60% increase in women over 40 having a mammogram, a 45% greater likelihood of having a pap test and a 20% greater chance of having blood pressure checked....