As Congress Debates Cutting Medicaid, a Major Study Shows It Saves Lives

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

55% : The expansion of Medicaid has saved more than 27,000 lives since 2010, according to the most definitive study yet on the program's health effects.
53% : Health economists not involved with the study described the work as the most convincing evidence to date that Medicaid -- and health insurance in general -- saves lives.
51% : The research showed some mental health improvements after two years among people who had gained Medicaid, but no statistically significant change in physical outcomes.
50% : Sarah Miller, a University of Michigan economist who has studied the health effects of Medicaid, said she was particularly struck by the new findings on younger enrollees, who accounted for 29 percent of the 27,400 lives saved.
50% : But that started to change in 2014, when Obamacare offered states generous federal funding to expand coverage.
50% : "Giving everyone Medicaid would be meaningful, but there would still be a huge gap," Dr. Wyse said.
49% : Sarah Kliff and Margot Sanger-Katz have covered the political and legal debates over Medicaid expansion, and research into its health impact, for more than a decade.
49% : "It's an important scientific contribution that helps us think about the magnitude of what Medicaid does," said Amy Finkelstein, a health economist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who was not involved in the research.
47% : Another study, comparing uninsured Americans with people who bought coverage on the Affordable Care Act marketplaces after being randomly selected to receive a reminder letter, also found that those who bought insurance were less likely to die.
45% : By analyzing federal records on 37 million Americans, two economists found that deaths fell not only among older enrollees but also among those in their 20s and 30s -- a group often assumed to have few medical needs, and who would have been far less likely to qualify for Medicaid before the expansion.
45% : More recent research found a decline in deaths among older or sicker adults who had gained Medicaid, but it did not examine health benefits for younger enrollees.
45% : The study also noted the limitations of Medicaid.
43% : Poor adults who gained Medicaid coverage after the Affordable Care Act expanded access were 21 percent less likely to die during a given year than those not enrolled, the research shows.
38% : The findings were published this month in a National Bureau of Economic Research working paper, as House Republicans were drafting a plan that could significantly cut Medicaid, which covers 71 million low-income or disabled Americans.
38% : Covering all poor people with Medicaid would shrink that disparity by only about 5 to 20 percent.
36% : Previous research showing that Medicaid can save lives was conducted on a much smaller scale and mostly reflected data on older, sicker populations.

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