https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articl...36472.html

Some good numbers questioning the value of expanding Medicaid.

"...Proponents of expansion argue that giving more people health insurance will lower costs and improve health outcomes by providing the uninsured with access to regular and preventative care before their health deteriorates and treatment becomes more expensive and less effective. Supporters also believe office visits will replace expensive emergency room and hospital care for newly insured individuals who will now have access to primary care. However, the data from states that have expanded their Medicaid programs show that this theory is unsupported by facts.

As an example, let’s look at Oregon, a state that began expanding Medicaid in 2008. Officials there lacked funding for the total number of applicants, so they conducted a random lottery and selected enrollees from a waiting list, thus making Oregon an ideal state for study. What they found was that gaining Medicaid coverage increased health care usage and costs across a wide range of settings, and emergency room visits increased by 40 percent in the newly covered group. Proponents of the expansion argued the initial spike in ER visits was due to pent-up needs and would decrease as time went on.
That has not been the case. Oregon’s growth in Medicaid spending between 2012 and 2016 was 83.1 percent. A follow-up study in the New England Journal of Medicine concluded the value of expansion for recipients was quite low -- 20 to 40 cents per dollar of government spending...."

(03-09-2018 09:04 AM)bullet Wrote:  https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articl...36472.html

Some good numbers questioning the value of expanding Medicaid.

"...Proponents of expansion argue that giving more people health insurance will lower costs and improve health outcomes by providing the uninsured with access to regular and preventative care before their health deteriorates and treatment becomes more expensive and less effective. Supporters also believe office visits will replace expensive emergency room and hospital care for newly insured individuals who will now have access to primary care. However, the data from states that have expanded their Medicaid programs show that this theory is unsupported by facts.

As an example, let’s look at Oregon, a state that began expanding Medicaid in 2008. Officials there lacked funding for the total number of applicants, so they conducted a random lottery and selected enrollees from a waiting list, thus making Oregon an ideal state for study. What they found was that gaining Medicaid coverage increased health care usage and costs across a wide range of settings, and emergency room visits increased by 40 percent in the newly covered group. Proponents of the expansion argued the initial spike in ER visits was due to pent-up needs and would decrease as time went on.
That has not been the case. Oregon’s growth in Medicaid spending between 2012 and 2016 was 83.1 percent. A follow-up study in the New England Journal of Medicine concluded the value of expansion for recipients was quite low -- 20 to 40 cents per dollar of government spending...."

Want to see if there has been an impact on disability.
Arkansas has seem a decline in disability applications and approvals since adopting expansion.