You can’t put a price on saving lives. Recent research reported by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities show that the expansion of Medicaid in some states has saved close to 20,000 people, which is why states that objected to the expansion should rethink that decision.
The CDPP cited a research paper on Medicaid and Mortality, which suggests that more than 19,000 people are alive today because the states they live in embraced the Affordable Car Act’s (ACA) expansion of Medicaid to low-income adults, which prevented premature deaths of adults age 55 to 64 from 2014 to 2017. The ACA is also referred to as Obama Care.
Medicaid is a joint federal and state program that provides free or low-cost health coverage to millions of Americans, including some low-income people, families and children, pregnant women, the elderly, and people with disabilities. The federal government provides a portion of the funding for Medicaid and sets guidelines for the program.
Each state had a decision to make. Either accept federal dollars to expand Medicaid coverage, or to reject the funding and not expand Medicaid. In the states that expanded Medicaid, nearly 20,000 more people are alive today compared to more than 15,000 lives lost in the states that rejected the idea to expand Medicaid, according to the research.
What Other Studies Show
The benefits of expanding Medicaid are not isolated to one study. Below are examples of other positive results of expanding coverage for Medicaid through the Affordable Care Act, according to the CBPP.
- Large increases in prescriptions filled for heart disease, diabetes, mental health conditions, and other chronic conditions.
- Large increases in the share of low-income adults getting regular check-ups and other preventive care, and large decreases in the share without a personal physician or usual source of care.
- Large decreases in the share of low-income adults skipping medications due to cost.
- Decreases in the share of low-income adults screening positive for depression.
- An increase in the share of people getting surgical care consistent with clinical guidelines, for example less invasive surgical techniques where feasible.
- Increases in cancer screenings and early-stage cancer diagnoses.
- A decrease in one-year mortality rates for patients diagnosed with end-stage renal disease.
