Expanding Medicaid, by Any Means, Improves Access to Care

A new Commonwealth Fund–supported study published in Health Affairs finds that in states that have expanded Medicaid, either by traditional means or through the so-called private option, low-income adults are better able to get insurance coverage, afford needed health services, and obtain regular care for chronic conditions. According to researchers Benjamin D. Sommers, M.D., Robert J. Blendon, and E. John Orav, the results “suggest that deciding whether or not to expand matters much more than deciding how to expand.”