Medicaid Expansion Under ACA Associated With More Positive Than Negative Effects

A systematic literature review published in Health Affairs found that Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was associated with increases in coverage, service use, quality of care, and Medicaid spending. Among those who benefitted the most are adults without a college degree, patients with cancer, and patients with diabetes.

The authors said they hope their work will be used to inform the discussion and debate over Medicaid expansion that has been happening for the past year and a half, as Republicans in Washington, DC, and in certain states have been trying to repeal or weaken the ACA as well as resist efforts to expand Medicaid. Medicaid provides healthcare to about 76 million people, or about 1 in 5 low-income Americans.

Efforts to repeal the ACA outright have failed and served only to increase the popularity of Medicaid. One of the proposed changes was to reverse the expansion of eligibility for Medicaid, partly by limiting federal funding to state Medicaid programs.

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