Dive Brief:
- States that expanded their Medicaid programs experienced a sharp increase in Medicaid patients with diabetes diagnoses compared to states that did not expand Medicaid, finds a study in the May issue of Diabetes Care.
- The 26 expansion states saw diagnoses increase by 23% while the 24 non-expansion states saw an increase of only 0.4%. The report notes there was no corresponding increase seen for patients with other forms of health insurance.
- The findings support the argument that the expansion of healthcare coverage to vulnerable groups can impact population health and the expense of chronic disease management.
Dive Insight:
Lead author Dr. Harvey Kaufman, senior medical director at Quest Diagnostics, notes that not only did the health coverage prompt the identification of these diabetes patients, but prompted their identification at an earlier stage than it otherwise would have been detected. "These individuals are likely to slow the progression of their diabetes. By engaging these people earlier, we lower the risk and the high cost of this disease," Kaufman told Modern Healthcare.
Kaufman suggests that an examination of diagnoses for other chronic diseases would likely also show increases in Medicaid expansion states.
While this data is encouraging, the study highlights the fact that of the 11 states with the nation's highest rates of stroke, obesity and cardiovascular disease, nine chose not to expand Medicaid.