Harvard Study Shows States Who Have Expanded Medicaid Have Reduced Death Rates

July 27th, 2012

A newly released study published in the New England Journal of Medicine by researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health found that states that expanded Medicaid in the last decade saw a decline in death rates compared with neighboring states.

According to the study, Arizona, Maine, and New York expanded their Medicaid programs in 2001 and 2002 to include more adults—similar to the groups that would become eligible for Medicaid due to the Medicaid Expansion of the Affordable Care Act. Arizona expanded to include childless adults up to 100% of the poverty level and to parents up to 200% of poverty. Maine expanded eligibility to childless adults up to 100% of the poverty level. New York also expanded to childless adults up to 100% of the poverty level and to parents with incomes up to 150% of poverty.

The study looked at mortality rates for the five years before and five years after the expansion among 20-64 year olds. They found that the expansion states had a 6.1% reduction in the relative risk of deathneighboring states without Medicaid expansions.

The researchers reported “our estimate of a 6.1% reduction in the relative risk of death among adults is similar to the 8.5% and 5.1% population-level reductions in infant and child mortality, respectively, as estimated in analyses of Medicaid expansions in the 1980s.”

The finding is particularly poignant in Mississippi –the state with the highest death rate per 100,000 people in the country. Additionally, increased Medicaid coverage is a key component of the Affordable Care Act’s design to reduce rising medical costs for everyone. It will also bring in $10 billion dollars of investment in the state’s healthcare industry in its first five years bringing both health and economic opportunity to our state.

Sources:
Sommers, Benjamin D., M.D., Ph.D., Katherine Baicker, Ph.D., and Arnold M. Epstein, M.D, “Mortality and Access to Care among Adults after State Medicaid Expansions” New England Journal of Medicine July 25, 2012.
Sherry L. Murphy, B.S.; Jiaquan Xu, M.D.; and Kenneth D Kochanek, M.A; Deaths: Preliminary Data for 2010National Vital Statistics Report Volume 60, No. 4. January 11, 2012.