Medicaid Expansion Slowed Rates Of Health Decline For Low-Income Adults In Southern States.

ABSTRACT: Of the fourteen states that have not expanded eligibility for Medicaid, nine are in the southern census region, and two others border that region. Ongoing debate over the merits of Medicaid expansion in these states has focused, in part, on whether the safety net provides sufficient access for uninsured low-income Americans. We analyzed longitudinal survey and vital status data from the twelve-state Southern Community Cohort Study (SCCS) for 15,356 nonelderly adult participants with low incomes, 86 percent of whom were enrolled at community health centers. In difference-in-differences analyses, we compared changes in self-reported health between participants in four expansion and eight nonexpansion states before (2008-13) and after (2015-17) Medicaid expansion. We found that a higher propo

SUBMITTER: Graves JA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7169046 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature