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Both The 'Private Option' And Traditional Medicaid Expansions Improved Access To Care For Low-Income Adults.
- Source :
-
Health affairs (Project Hope) [Health Aff (Millwood)] 2016 Jan; Vol. 35 (1), pp. 96-105. - Publication Year :
- 2016
-
Abstract
- Under the Affordable Care Act, thirty states and the District of Columbia have expanded eligibility for Medicaid, with several states using Medicaid funds to purchase private insurance (the "private option"). Despite vigorous debate over the use of private insurance versus traditional Medicaid to provide coverage to low-income adults, there is little evidence on the relative merits of the two approaches. We compared the first-year impacts of traditional Medicaid expansion in Kentucky, the private option in Arkansas, and nonexpansion in Texas by conducting a telephone survey of two distinct waves of low-income adults (5,665 altogether) in those three states in November-December 2013 and twelve months later. Using a difference-in-differences analysis, we found that the uninsurance rate declined by 14 percentage points in the two expansion states, compared to the nonexpansion state. In the expansion states, again compared to the nonexpansion state, skipping medications because of cost and trouble paying medical bills declined significantly, and the share of individuals with chronic conditions who obtained regular care increased. Other than coverage type and trouble paying medical bills (which decreased more in Kentucky than in Arkansas), there were no significant differences between Kentucky's traditional Medicaid expansion and Arkansas's private option, which suggests that both approaches improved access among low-income adults.<br /> (Project HOPEāThe People-to-People Health Foundation, Inc.)
- Subjects :
- Adult
Arkansas
District of Columbia
Female
Health Care Reform economics
Health Care Surveys
Health Services Accessibility economics
Humans
Kentucky
Male
Medicaid statistics & numerical data
Middle Aged
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
Private Sector statistics & numerical data
Texas
United States
Young Adult
Health Services Accessibility statistics & numerical data
Medicaid economics
Poverty statistics & numerical data
Private Sector economics
Quality Improvement
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 1544-5208
- Volume :
- 35
- Issue :
- 1
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- Health affairs (Project Hope)
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 26733706
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2015.0917