Investigators from Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Report New Data on Medicare and Medicaid (Medicaid Expansion For Adults Had Measurable…

Investigators from Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Report New Data on Medicare and Medicaid (Medicaid Expansion For Adults Had Measurable 'Welcome Mat' Effects On Their Children)

By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Managed Care Weekly Digest -- Investigators publish new report on Medicare and Medicaid. According to news originating from Rockville, Maryland, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, "Before the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), most children in low-income families were already eligible for public insurance through Medicaid or the Children's Health Insurance Program. Increased coverage observed for these children since the ACA's implementation suggest that the legislation potentially had important spillover or 'welcome mat' effects on the number of eligible children enrolled."

Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, "This study used data from the 2013-15 American Community Survey to provide the first national-level (analytical) estimates of welcome-mat effects on children's coverage post ACA. We estimated that 710,000 low-income children gained coverage through these effects. The study was also the first to show a link between parents' eligibility for Medicaid and welcome-mat effects for their children under the ACA. Welcome-mat effects were largest among children whose parents gained Medicaid eligibility under the ACA expansion to adults. Public coverage for these children increased by 5.7 percentage points-more than double the 2.7-percentage-point increase observed among children whose parents were ineligible for Medicaid both pre and post ACA."

According to the news editors, the research concluded: "Finally, we estimated that if all states had adopted the Medicaid expansion, an additional 200,000 low-income children would have gained coverage."

For more information on this research see: Medicaid Expansion For Adults Had Measurable 'Welcome Mat' Effects On Their Children. Health Affairs, 2017;36(9):1643-1651. Health Affairs can be contacted at: Project Hope, 7500 Old Georgetown Rd, Ste 600, Bethesda, MD 20814-6133, USA (see also Medicare and Medicaid).

The news correspondents report that additional information may be obtained from J.L. Hudson, AHRQ, Div Res & Modeling, Center Financing Access & Cost Trends, Rockville, MD 20857, United States.

Keywords for this news article include: Rockville, Maryland, United States, North and Central America, Medicare and Medicaid, Affordable Care Act, Health Policy, Medicaid, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

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