Medicaid expansion under the ACA was associated with improved access to surgical care and better chances of surgery patients experiencing high quality care, according to a study published in JAMA Surgery.
For the study, researchers examined hospital administrative data compiled from 2010 to 2015 in states that did not expand Medicaid under the health law and states that did. Researchers analyzed the data to assess performance both before and after the ACA's passage. The analysis included data on nearly 300,000 patients from 42 states admitted to the hospital with one of five common surgical conditions, including appendicitis, peripheral artery disease and aortic aneurysm.
Researchers found Medicaid expansion was associated with a 1.8 percent increase in the likelihood of patients presenting at the hospital prior to developing complicated conditions and a 2.6 percent increase in the probability of patients' receiving optimal care. Additionally, Medicaid expansion was associated with a 7.5 percent decrease in the likelihood of patients being uninsured and an 8.6 percent increase in the probability of patients being covered under Medicaid.
"Our data reinforce that insurance coverage is an important contributor to earlier presentation with less severe disease at the time of diagnosis," the study's authors concluded. "As policymakers weigh changes to or a potential repeal of the ACA, these findings provide important new data on the early clinical effects of the law's coverage expansion."
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