Studies from David Geffen School of Medicine University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Have Provided New Data on COVID-19 (Health Insurance and Access to Care After Unemployment in Medicaid Expansion Versus Nonexpansion States During COVID-19): Coronavirus – COVID-19

2025 DEC 19 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at NewsRx COVID-19 Daily -- Investigators publish new report on Coronavirus - COVID-19. According to news reporting from Los Angeles, California, by NewsRx journalists, research stated, “Prior work has shown that Medicaid coverage offset reductions in employer-sponsored insurance after COVID-19-related job loss in Medicaid expansion states. However, the effect of Medicaid expansion on health care access is not fully understood.”

The news correspondents obtained a quote from the research from the David Geffen School of Medicine University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), “To estimate the association of unemployment during COVID-19 with health insurance coverage and health care access in Medicaid expansion versus nonexpansion states. We used restricted, longitudinal National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) data from 2019 to 2020, focusing on working-age adults (N=5156). Using triple-difference models, we estimated changes in outcomes for respondents becoming unemployed between 2019 and 2020 (after COVID-19) relative to continuously employed respondents, in Medicaid expansion versus nonexpansion states. Compared with continuously employed respondents, there was a statistically significant increase in Medicaid coverage among the newly unemployed in expansion states (6.1 percentage points (pp), 95% CI: 1.0 to 11.3, P=0.019) but not in nonexpansion states (3.9 pp, 95% CI: -3.9 to 11.8, P=0.324); however, the triple difference was nonsignificant. Uninsurance increased among the newly unemployed in expansion states by only 4.9 pp (95% CI: 0.9 to 8.9, P=0.016) versus 12.4 pp in nonexpansion states (95% CI: 0.2 to 24.6, P=0.047), but the triple difference was statistically nonsignificant. There was a significant increase in delaying or skipping medical care among newly unemployed respondents in nonexpansion states, but not in expansion states and the triple difference was statistically significant (-15.5 pp, 95% CI: -26.9 to -4.0, P=0.008).”

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “Our results suggest that Medicaid expansion prevented disruptions in health care access for the newly unemployed during COVID-19.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: Health Insurance and Access to Care After Unemployment in Medicaid Expansion Versus Nonexpansion States During COVID-19. Medical Care, 2025;64(1):19-28. Medical Care can be contacted at: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Two Commerce Sq, 2001 Market St, Philadelphia, PA 19103, USA. (Lippincott Williams and Wilkins - www.lww.com; Medical Care - http://journals.lww.com/lww-medicalcare/pages/default.aspx)

Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Jose J. Escarce, Dept. of Medicine, Division of General Internal Medicine and Health Services Research, UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA. Additional authors for this research include James M. Campbell, Dennis Runger, David P. Eisenman and Peter J. Huckfeldt.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1097/mlr.0000000000002254. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

Publisher contact information for the journal Medical Care is: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Two Commerce Sq, 2001 Market St, Philadelphia, PA 19103, USA.

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