The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act seeks to increase Medicaid enrollment through expanded eligibility, simpler and more modern enrollment processes, and increased outreach efforts.
Kaiser Family Foundation researchers have analyzed CMS data on Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program enrollment through the end of March to assess the impact of the PPACA so far. Here are four key findings.
1. Through the end of March, Medicaid and CHIP enrollment grew by more than 4.8 million people (from 58.9 million to 63.7 million) in the 47 states that reported data.
2. Overall Medicaid enrollment across all 47 states grew by an average of 8.2 percent between summer 2013 and March 2014.
3. There was a significant difference in Medicaid enrollment growth in states that expanded their programs to people earning as much as 138 percent of the poverty level under the PPACA, compared with those that didn't expand Medicaid. On average, the 22 states that had expanded Medicaid by March saw a 12.9 percent increase in enrollment, compared with 2.6 percent in states that hadn't extended eligibility.
4. Medicaid enrollment is expected to keep growing, given that some states haven't yet released enrollment data and (unlike the health insurance exchanges) people can sign up for Medicaid year-round.
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