A new Health Affairs study of low-income adults in three states that are taking different approaches to the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion shows overwhelming majorities favor expanding eligibility for the program and view its coverage as equal to, or better than, private health insurance.
In a related blog post, study coauthor Benjamin D. Sommers of the Harvard School of Public Health discusses his team’s research and emphasizes the value of expanding Medicaid to low-income populations. A number of large studies conducted over multiyear periods “leave little doubt that expanded insurance coverage helps improve the lives of low-income adults—and likely helps them live longer,” Sommers writes.