Medicaid Expansion has quantifiable benefits and Community Catalyst recently set out some of these benefits in two recent blog posts. These benefits include better access to care for people with disabilities, broadened health care in rural areas and decreased racial inequities in coverage rates. Another benefit is that cancer gets diagnosed earlier, which lowers the mortally rate for cancer patients and saves lives in doing so.
Medicaid expansion means longer windows of care coverage for low-income mothers before and after their pregnancy. Medicaid covers nearly half of all births and infants who receive prenatal care are less likely to have a low birth weight and go on to live healthy lives.
Another boon is that Medicaid expansion helps state budgets and hospitals on an economic level. 12% of previously uninsured people who are employed by a small business gained Medicaid coverage.
In short, when people have expanded access to health care, their health and quality of life improves! To read the Community Catalyst blog posts, check out these links:
- Study after Study with the Same Results: Medicaid Expansion Is Good for States (5/24/2021)
- Expanding Medicaid Saves Lives and Improves the Health of Infants and Pregnant People (5/27/2021)
To learn more about new incentives for states to expand Medicaid under the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) check out the issue brief from the Kaiser Family Foundation entitled “New Incentive for States to Adopt the ACA Medicaid Expansion: Implications for State Spending”.