Increases In Medicaid Enrollment Research Articles

Insurance coverage during transitions: Evidence from Medicaid automatic enrollment for children receiving supplemental security income.

To analyze relationships between Medicaid automatic enrollment for child Supplemental Security Income (SSI) recipients and health insurance coverage during transitions. Medical Expenditure Panel Study, 2000-2020 and National Survey for Children with Special Health Care Needs, 2001-2010. Leveraging variation in SSI-Medicaid automatic enrollment status across regions and over time, we estimate a regression model to quantify associations between automatic enrollment and insurance coverage. We validate our findings in the NS-CSHCN. Our sample includes children receiving SSI for a disability. We also analyze a subsample of children newly enrolled in SSI. Automatic enrollment is associated with a statistically significant increase in insurance coverage. Expanding automatic enrollment to all states is associated with increases in Medicaid enrollment of 3% (CI 0.9%-6.7%) among all SSI children and 7% (CI 1.1%-13.9%) among children newly enrolled in SSI. We find similar decreases in uninsurance. Analysis in the NS-CSHCN replicates these findings. Medicaid automatic enrollment policies are associated with increased insurance coverage for SSI children, particularly those transitioning into the program. Medicaid policy defaults could play an important role in reducing administrative burdens to improve children's coverage and access to care.

Do minimum wage laws affect employer-sponsored insurance provision?

Employers may respond to minimum wage increases by adjusting their health benefits. We examine the impact of state minimum wage increases on employer health benefit offerings using the 2002–2020 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey – Insurance/Employer Component data. Our primary regression specifications are difference-in-differences models that estimate the relationship between within-state changes in employer-sponsored insurance and minimum wage laws over time. We find that a $1 increase in minimum wages is associated with a 0.92 percentage point (p.p.) decrease in the percentage of employers offering health insurance, largely driven by small employers and employers with a greater share of low-wage employees. A $1 increase is also associated with a 1.83 p.p. increase in the prevalence of plans with a deductible requirement, but we do not find consistent evidence that other benefit characteristics are affected. We find no consequent change in uninsurance, likely explained by an increase in Medicaid enrollment.

Medicaid enrollment changes among U.S. adult survivors of childhood cancer following medicaid expansion: A report from the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study (CCSS).

10011 Background: Little is known about whether Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) affected insurance coverage among adult survivors of childhood cancer, a population at high-risk for poor health outcome. We addressed this gap by evaluating the association between ACA Medicaid expansion and Medicaid enrollment among participants in the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study (CCSS). Methods: The CCSS cohort of 5-year survivors of childhood cancer was linked to administrative Medicaid insurance data in 2010-2016. We identified 13,895 adult survivors (aged 18-64 years) diagnosed with cancer under age 21 and between 1970 and 1999. Outcomes included (1) percentage with any Medicaid enrollment by year; and (2) Medicaid-covered days (number of days when a survivor was enrolled in Medicaid) during each year. Multivariable difference-in-differences (DD) models were used to examine outcome changes pre vs. post ACA Medicaid expansion, in expansion- vs. non-expansion states, adjusting for age, sex, race/ethnicity, income, education, and chronic conditions. Multivariable models were conducted overall and then stratified by cancer type, race/ethnicity, income, and education. Results: Medicaid enrollment rates increased more in expansion states (17.6% pre-expansion to 24.1% post-expansion) than non-expansion states (16.4% to 16.9%), leading to a net increase in enrollment of 6.6 percentage points (ppt; 95% CI = 5.5-7.7) in the multivariable DD model. Multivariable DD model showed a net increase of 18.4 days (95% CI = 13.8-23.1) in Medicaid-covered days in expansion states relative to non-expansion states. The expansion-associated increase in Medicaid enrollment rates was greatest among survivors of leukemia (multivariable DD estimate: 8.9 ppt, 95% CI = 6.9-11.0) and non-Hodgkin lymphoma (8.0 ppt, 95% CI = 5.0-10.9). Greater increases in Medicaid enrollment were seen in non-Hispanic Black (13.5 ppt, 95% CI = 8.0-19.1) and Hispanic survivors (15.8 ppt, 95% CI = 10.6-21.0) than non-Hispanic White peers (5.1 ppt; 95% CI = 4.0-6.2); in survivors with < $20K household income (11.7 ppt, 95% CI = 8.9-14.4) compared to those with ≥$60K household income (2.9 ppt, 95% CI = 1.6-4.2); and in survivors with high school or lower education (9.3 ppt, 95% CI = 6.9-11.8) compared to those with a college or higher degree (3.9 ppt, 95% CI = 2.6-5.3). Similar patterns were observed across survivor subgroups when examining Medicaid-covered days. Conclusions: We provide the first evidence on increased Medicaid enrollment and longer coverage duration among adult survivors of childhood cancer following Medicaid expansion, with greater increases seen among survivors of underrepresented racial/ethnic populations, those with low socioeconomic status, and high medical need survivors.

Impact of Medicaid expansion on inclusion of medications for opioid use disorder in homeless adults' treatment plans

IntroductionPeople experiencing homelessness (PEH) bear disproportionate opioid mortality. This article aims to determine how state Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act impacted the inclusion of medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) in treatment plans for housed versus homeless individuals. MethodsThe Treatment Episodes Data Set (TEDS) provided data on 6,878,044 U.S. treatment admissions between 2006 and 2019. Difference-in-differences analysis compared MOUD treatment plans and Medicaid enrollment for housed versus homeless clients in states that did and did not expand Medicaid. ResultsMedicaid expansion was associated with a 35.2 (95 % CI, 11.9 to 58.4) percentage point increase in Medicaid enrollment and an 8.51 (95 % CI, 1.13 to 15.9) percentage point increase in MOUD-inclusive treatment plans for housed and homeless clients alike. Yet the pre-existing MOUD disparity persisted, with PEH being 11.8 (95 % CI, −18.6 to −5.07) percentage points less likely to have MOUD-inclusive treatment plans. ConclusionsMedicaid expansion may be an effective tool for increasing MOUD treatment plans for PEH in the 11 states that have not yet implemented the policy, but additional efforts to increase MOUD initiation for PEH will be necessary for closing their treatment gap.

Health insurance coverage during the COVID-19 pandemic: The role of Medicaid expansion.

Using data from the US Census Bureau's Household Pulse Survey, we analyzed the likelihood of loss of health insurance and enrollment into new health coverage during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Loss of employment was associated with a significant increase in the likelihood of loss of health insurance and, specifically, an increase in the likelihood of employer-sponsored health insurance. However, individuals in Medicaid expansion states experienced a lower likelihood of loss of health insurance compared with individuals in nonexpansion states. At the same time, there was a statistically significant increase in Medicaid enrollment in expansion states, by 3.2 percentage points. Reemployment or acquiring employment was associated with a gain in health insurance coverage. During an economic downturn, eligibility, and coverage gaps leave many without affordable coverage options, and the pandemic will likely bring renewed attention to gaps in Medicaid coverage in nonexpansion states.

COVID-19-related Medicaid enrollment in Medicaid expansion and non-expansion states.

Research ObjectiveTo explore whether expanded Medicaid helps mitigate the relationship between unemployment due to COVID and being uninsured. Unanticipated unemployment spells are generally associated with disruptions in health insurance coverage, which could also be the case for job losses during the COVID‐19 pandemic. Expanded access to Medicaid may insulate some households from long uninsurance gaps due to job loss.Data SourcePhase 1 of the Census Bureau's Experimental Household Pulse Survey covering April 23, 2020–July 21, 2020.Study DesignWe compare differences in health insurance coverage source and status linked to recent lob losses attributable to the COVID‐19 pandemic in states that expanded Medicaid against states that did not expand Medicaid.Data Collection/Extraction MethodsOur analytical dataset was limited to 733,181 non‐elderly adults aged 20–64.Principal FindingsTwenty‐six percent of our study sample experienced an income loss between March 13, 2020, and the time leading up to the survey—16% experienced job losses (e.g., layoff, furlough) due to the COVID‐19 crisis, and 11% had other reasons they were not working. COVID‐linked job losses were associated with a 20 (p < 0.01) percentage‐point (PPT) lower likelihood of having employer‐sponsored health insurance (ESI). Relative to persons in states that did not expand Medicaid, persons in Medicaid expansion states experiencing COVID‐linked job losses were 9 PPT (p < 0.01) more likely to report having Medicaid and 7 PPT (p < 0.01) less likely to be uninsured. The largest increases in Medicaid enrollment were among people who, based on their 2019 incomes, would not have qualified for Medicaid previously.ConclusionsOur findings suggest that expanded Medicaid eligibility may allow households to stabilize health care needs and they should become detached from private health coverage due to job loss during the pandemic. Households negatively affected by the pandemic are using Medicaid to insure themselves against the potential health risks they would incur while being unemployed.

Mixed Method Evaluation of Louisiana's Prerelease Medicaid Enrollment Program, 2017-2019.

Over 600,000 people leave US prisons annually. Many are eligible for Medicaid upon release but may need support to enroll. Carceral facilities in nearly half of states have implemented systems to facilitate Medicaid access for those leaving incarceration, but there is limited information on program implementation models or outcomes. To evaluate implementation and initial outcomes of Louisiana's prison-based Prerelease Medicaid Enrollment Program. In this mixed-methods study, we assessed enrollment in Louisiana Medicaid at time of release from prison in the 2 years (2017-2018) after Program implementation, as well as reasons for Medicaid closure (ie, loss of coverage) and health services use 6 months postrelease. In May-June 2019, we conducted interviews statewide with program implementers (n=16) and focus groups in New Orleans, Louisiana with formerly incarcerated Program participants (n=16). A total of 4476 people were included in the quantitative analysis. There was a 34.3 (95% confidence interval: 20.7-47.9) percentage point increase in Medicaid enrollment upon release. Nearly all (98.6%) attended at least 1 outpatient visit and almost half (46.7%) had 1 emergency department visit within 6 months of release. Not responding to information requests was the most common reason for Medicaid closure. Program implementers and formerly incarcerated participants identified Program strengths, barriers, and suggestions for improvement. The program was successful in rapidly increasing Medicaid enrollment at the time of prison release and facilitating the use of health care services.

Trends in Medicaid Enrollment and Disenrollment During the Early Phase of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Wisconsin

After the federal public health emergency was declared in March 2020, states could qualify for increased federal Medicaid funding if they agreed to maintenance of eligibility (MOE) provisions, including a continuous coverage provision. The implications of MOE provisions for total Medicaid enrollment are unknown. To examine observed increases in Medicaid enrollment and identify the underlying roots of that growth during the first 7 months of the COVID-19 public health emergency in Wisconsin. This population-based cohort study compared changes in Wisconsin Medicaid enrollment from March through September 2020 with predicted changes based on previous enrollment patterns (January 2015-September 2019) and early pandemic employment shocks. The participants included enrollees in full-benefit Medicaid programs for nonelderly, nondisabled beneficiaries in Wisconsin from March through September 2020. Individuals were followed up monthly as they enrolled in, continued in, and disenrolled from Medicaid. Participants were considered to be newly enrolled if they enrolled in the program after being not enrolled for at least 1 month, and they were considered disenrolled if they left and were not reenrolled within the next month. Continuous coverage provision beginning in March 2020; economic disruption from pandemic between first and second quarters of 2020. Actual vs predicted Medicaid enrollment, new enrollment, disenrollment, and reenrollment. Three models were created (Medicaid enrollment with no pandemic, Medicaid enrollment with pandemic economic circumstances, and longer Medicaid enrollment with a pandemic-induced recession), and a 95% prediction interval was used to express uncertainty in enrollment predictions. The study estimated ongoing Medicaid enrollment in March 2020 for 792 777 enrollees (mean [SD] age, 20.6 [16.5] years; 431 054 [54.4%] women; 213 904 [27.0%] experiencing an employment shock) and compared that estimate with actual enrollment totals. Compared with a model of enrollment based on past data and incorporating the role of recent employment shocks, most ongoing excess enrollment was associated with MOE provisions rather than enrollment of newly eligible beneficiaries owing to employment shocks. After 7 months, overall enrollment had increased to 894 619, 11.1% higher than predicted (predicted enrollment 805 130; 95% prediction interval 767 991-843 086). Decomposing higher-than-predicted retention, most enrollment was among beneficiaries who, before the pandemic, likely would have disenrolled within 6 months, although a substantial fraction (30.4%) was from reduced short-term disenrollment. In this cohort study, observed increases in Medicaid enrollment were largely associated with MOE rather than new enrollment after employment shocks. Expiration of MOE may leave many beneficiaries without insurance coverage.

Association of Medicaid Expansion Under the Affordable Care Act With Perinatal Care Access and Utilization Among Low-Income Women: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

To synthesize the empirical research evidence about the association between Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and increasing perinatal care access and utilization among low-income women. We searched MEDLINE through PubMed (1966-present), EMBASE (Ovid), the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health (1982-present), PAIS Index (ProQuest), Web of Science (1900-present), and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials. Our review focuses on the association between Medicaid expansion under the ACA and perinatal care access and utilization, which cannot be subjected to randomized controlled trials, therefore ClinicalTrials.gov was not included in our search. A comprehensive search of the research literature was performed using Covidence. Studies were eligible if they were based on population data and research designs ensuring that the exposure (ie, Medicaid expansion under the ACA) preceded the perinatal care access or utilization outcome, had an appropriate comparison group, presented quantitative data, and examined pregnant or postpartum women. The search in six bibliographic databases returned 1,243 records, with 855 abstracts reviewed, 34 full-text articles screened for eligibility, and nine eligible studies included in the systematic review. Stata 16 software was used to generate summary estimates, forest plots, funnel plots, and heterogeneity statistics. Random effects modeling based on pooled data revealed that Medicaid expansion was associated with a 6.1% increase in Medicaid enrollment for pregnant women (95% CI 1.3-10.9%) and a 3.3% increase in perinatal care utilization (95% CI 0.2-6.3%). Medicaid expansion under the ACA is associated with a modest and statistically significant increase in perinatal care access and utilization among low-income women.

Medicaid Expansion’s Impact on Emergency Department Use by State and Payer

ObjectivesThe Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid Expansion Program influences healthcare use by increasing insurance coverage. Of particular interest is how this will affect inefficient and expensive emergency department (ED) visits. We estimated the impact of the Medicaid expansion on ED use by states and payer (Medicaid, private insurance, and uninsured) 5 years after the implementation of the Medicaid expansion and illustrated the use of the generalized synthetic control method. MethodsIn this quasi-experiment study, we implemented the generalized synthetic control method to compare states with Medicaid expansion and states without Medicaid expansion. Data were from the Healthcare Cost Utilization Project Fast Stats, which cover >95% of all ED visits. We included states with complete data from 2010 to 2018. ResultsOverall, the Medicaid expansion increased Medicaid share of ED visits (average treatment effect on the treated [ATT] 11.39%; 95% confidence interval [CI] 8.76-14.02) and decreased private share of ED visits (ATT −5.80%; 95% CI −7.40 to −4.12) and uninsured share of ED visits (ATT −6.66%; 95% CI −9.78 to −3.55). ConclusionsMedicaid Expansion Program shifted ED payer mix to Medicaid ED visits from private insurance and uninsured ED visits for adults at age of 19 to 64 years, whereas its effect on total ED volume is mixed among states. States that experienced the largest increase in Medicaid enrollment seem to experience an increase in ED visits although such results did not reach statistical significance.

The Association of Medicaid Insurance and Affordable Care Act Expansions with Survival among Patients with Testicular Cancer.

Following passage of the Affordable Care Act, Medicaid access was expanded in several states beginning in 2014. We sought to determine the oncologic implications by comparing outcomes between testicular germ cell tumor patients with Medicaid and those without insurance, and by assessing for changes in outcomes after 2014. A total of 18,506 men with seminomatous or nonseminomatous germ cell tumors were identified within the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database (2007-2016). Multivariable Cox proportional hazards, Fine and Gray competing-risks regression, propensity score matching, cumulative incidence plots and segmented Poisson regression models were used. Compared to no insurance, Medicaid insurance was not associated with differences in all-cause mortality or cancer-specific mortality among seminoma patients (all-cause mortality: HR=1.24, p=0.87; cancer-specific mortality: HR=0.92, p=0.75) or nonseminoma patients (all-cause mortality: HR=1.13, p=0.33; cancer-specific mortality: HR=1.10, p=0.51). Among matched Medicaid and uninsured patients, there was again no difference in cancer-specific mortality for those with seminoma (p=0.81) or nonseminoma (p=0.23). There was a 99% increase in Medicaid enrollment in expansion states in the post-Affordable Care Act era. There was no difference in post-expansion all-cause mortality between expansion states and nonexpansion states for men with seminoma (p=0.42) or nonseminoma (p=0.53). Medicaid enrollment increased in expansion states following the Affordable Care Act. However, there was no difference in survival between Medicaid patients and uninsured patients, or between patients in expansion states versus nonexpansion states, highlighting the need for population-level policy interventions to improve access and quality of care among testicular cancer patients with Medicaid.

The impact of the affordable care act on surgeon selection amongst colorectal surgery patients

BackgroundIt is unclear how the Affordable Care Act’s state-based Medicaid Expansion (ME) has impacted surgeon selection for colorectal resections (CRS). MethodsWe performed a risk-adjusted DID analysis on state discharge data of CRS patients aged 26–64 from NY (Expansion) and FL (non-Expansion) before (2012–2013) and after (2016–2017) ME. Primary outcome was use of a high-volume or colorectal-boarded surgeon. Subset analysis performed on insurance status. ResultsAmong 78,866 CRS patients, ME was associated with a 5.9% increase in Medicaid enrollment. ME was associated with a 0.73 (95%CI: 0.67–0.69; p < 0.001) reduced odds of high-volume surgeon usage by commercially insured patients when compared to usage by commercially insured patients in the non-expansion state. No statistically significant difference was noted in the use of a colorectal-boarded surgeon following reform. ConclusionsME was associated with an increase in Medicaid enrollment and a decrease in the use of high-volume surgeons by the commercially insured.

The Medicaid expansion did not crowd out access for medicaid recipients with disabilities in Oregon

BackgroundThe Affordable Care Act (ACA) substantially increased the number of Medicaid enrollees, which could have reduced access to health care services for those already on Medicaid before the expansion. ObjectiveTo examine the association of the ACA expansion on health care access and utilization for adults ages 18–64 years who have qualified for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) in Oregon. MethodsWe used Oregon Medicaid claims and enrollment data from 2012 to 2015 and information from the American Community Survey and the Local Area Unemployment Statistics. Multivariate regressions compared changes in health care access and utilization before and after the expansion among Medicaid recipients who qualified for SSI across counties in Oregon with higher and lower Medicaid enrollment increases due to the expansion. Health care access and utilization outcome measures included: primary care visits, non-behavioral health outpatient visits, behavioral health outpatient visits, emergency department (ED) visits and potentially avoidable ED visits. ResultsThe Medicaid expansion led to an uneven increase in Medicaid enrollment across Oregon’s counties (mean increase from the first quarter of 2012 to the third quarter of 2015: 12.4% points; range: 7.3 to 18.6% points). Access and utilization outcomes for SSI Medicaid recipients were mostly unaffected by differential enrollment increases. ED visits increased more in counties with a larger Medicaid enrollment increase (estimate: 1.8, p < 0.05), but adjusting for pre-expansion trends eliminated this association. ConclusionsWe did not find evidence that an increase in Medicaid enrollment due to the ACA negatively impacted access and utilization for adult Medicaid recipients on SSI, who were eligible for Medicaid prior to expansion.

Study finds that states that expanded Medicaid experienced greater declines in cancer‐related deaths

States that expanded their Medicaid programs after the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 took effect experienced larger declines in cancer mortality rates compared with states that did not, according to a nationwide study presented at the virtual 2020 meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. Examining overall trends for US age-adjusted cancer mortality from 1999 to 2017, researchers identified a 29% decline in cancer mortality for states that expanded Medicaid, dropping from 65.1 to 46.3 per 100,000 population in that time span. Meanwhile, cancer mortality rates dropped by approximately 25%, from 69.5 to 52.3 per 100,000 population, in states that did not expand their programs. States that expanded their Medicaid programs after 2014 saw an estimated 785 fewer cancer deaths in 2017 alone, the authors note. Lead author Anna Lee, MD, MPH, who conducted the research as a radiation oncology fellow at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City but has since joined The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, points out that the study is the first to demonstrate that Medicaid expansion saved lives among individuals with cancer nationwide. When the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act permitted states to expand Medicaid coverage for low-income individuals and those with disabilities, many of them formally did so in January 2014. As a result, states experienced large increases in Medicaid enrollment among individuals who were near the poverty level and newly eligible for the program. For the study, researchers analyzed data from the National Center for Health Statistics, establishing baseline trends from 1999 to 2017. They then compared age-adjusted rates prior to full state expansion (from 2011 to 2013) with the period after expansion (from 2015 to 2017). They did not include cancer deaths in patients aged 65 years and older because this group is eligible for Medicare. During the analysis period, 27 states plus the District of Columbia expanded Medicaid whereas 23 did not. Investigators also examined changes in subpopulations, including Black and Hispanic patients. Although the Black population experienced large improvements in mortality rates, researchers found no additional gains for this subgroup in states that expanded Medicaid. They did observe, however, that overall age-adjusted mortality was consistently worse for Black patients in states without Medicaid expansion compared with states that had adopted expansion: 58.5 versus 63.4 per 100,000 population for the Medicaid expansion states and nonexpansion states, respectively, in 2017. Meanwhile, study results indicate that Hispanic patients benefited the most from Medicaid expansion, largely because they comprise a greater percentage of the population and had 3 times the uninsured rate as White adults in states that adopted it, according to senior author Fumiko Chino, MD, a radiation oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Researchers plan to continue their analysis as new data become available from the National Center for Health Statistics.

Access to Elective Orthopaedic Surgery After the Affordable Care Act Medicaid Expansion: The New York State Experience.

As part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, states were given the option of expanding Medicaid coverage to include adults younger than age 65 years with income at or below 138% of the federal poverty level. Although this expansion was intended to provide health care coverage to an estimated 20 million Americans, several studies have shown increased coverage does not equate to increased access to care by specialty providers. We queried the New York Statewide Planning and Research Cooperative System database and identified all patients who underwent the 10 most common elective orthopaedic surgeries from January 1, 2012, through March 31, 2016. Medicaid monthly enrollment for the 4-year study period was obtained from NY Department of Health Medicaid Managed Care Enrollment Reports. Our query identified 700,159 patients who underwent the investigated orthopaedic surgeries. Of these, 60,786 were Medicaid recipients. During the 4-year study period, Medicaid enrollment and the number of procedures reimbursed by Medicaid increased significantly (P < 0.001 for both). Affordable Care Act-supported Medicaid expansion was associated with an increase in Medicaid enrollment and a concomitant increase in the utilization of orthopaedic surgery by Medicaid beneficiaries in New York State.

Disenrolled: Retrenchment and Voting in Health Policy

Abstract Context: Recent studies have shown that changes in public health insurance policy have the potential to affect political participation. In particular, aggregate-level analyses suggest that increases in Medicaid enrollment due to the Affordable Care Act's Medicaid expansion are associated with increased voter turnout. Given the current uncertainty surrounding the future of Medicaid, these results lead to an important and related question: What happens to political participation when public health insurance coverage is reduced? Methods: Leveraging changes instituted by the state of Tennessee in the early 2000s to its Medicaid program, TennCare, the authors employed a first-differences approach to examine the effect of health policy retrenchment on county-level voter turnout and partisan vote share in gubernatorial elections. Findings: Counties with larger Medicaid enrollment declines saw larger decreases and smaller increases in voter turnout between 2002 and 2006 relative to those with smaller declines. Disenrollment was also associated with reduced Democratic vote share, though these results are not robust to controls. Conclusions: Rather than mobilizing voters angry about losing coverage, the TennCare disenrollment seems to have had a demobilizing effect. The negative resource and interpretive effects of losing coverage likely outweigh any mobilizing backlash effect of retrenchment.

Impact of Medicaid expansion on diagnosis and management of patients with testicular cancer.

551 Background: One crucial aspect of the Affordable Care Act is the optional Medicaid expansion, which started in 2014. Patients with testicular cancer may derive particular benefit from Medicaid expansion due to demographics overlap. We hypothesize that Medicaid expansion would improve outcome in these patients. Methods: We reviewed the Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) database for testicular cancer diagnosed from 2010 to 2014. Among the SEER regions, we separated in to states that did (CA, CT, HI, IA, KY, MI, NJ, NM, WA) or did not (AK, GA, LA, UT) undertake expansion. Medicaid data from CMMS were used to measure the degree of Medicaid expansion (EXP). Data from 2010-2013 was used as baseline, and 2014 as the effect of EXP. Chi-square test was used to compare between groups. Results: We identified 12731 cases of testicular cancer from 2010 to 2014. Within SEER regions, overall Medicaid enrollment increased by 30.4% from 2013 to 2014 in the EXP states, and by 8.4% in non-EXP states. Expansion did not affect incidence of testicular cancer. In the EXP states, Medicaid coverage for testicular cancer increased from 14.8% to 19.4% in 2014 (p &lt; 0.001) and uninsured decreased from 8.7% to 4.3% (p &lt; 0.001). In non-EXP states, coverage with Medicaid (9.7% to 8.8%, p = 0.60) and uninsured (13.6% to 12.9%, p = 0.68) did not change. Within individual states, we noted a linear correlation between % increase in Medicaid enrollment and % decrease in uninsured cases (R = 0.58). Among Medicaid patients in EXP states, stage I cases increased (52% to 60%), stage III cases decreased (27% to 20%). There was no change among insured patients (70.6% to 73.3% for stage I, and 10.9% to 9.1% for stage III). In contrast, in non-EXP states, Medicaid patients had decrease in stage I and increase in stage III cases. Medicaid patients had higher rates of no treatment and lower rates of lymph node assessment for stage II NSGCT compared to insured patients, but this did not vary with EXP. Conclusions: Medicaid expansion reduced rate of uninsured for patients with new diagnosis of testicular cancer. There was a shift to earlier stage of diagnosis in Medicaid patients, but no apparent effect yet on management. Future studies will focus on change over time and effect on survival.

SNAP Expansions and Participation in Government Safety Net Programs

Gauging the efficacy of safety net programs requires a good understanding of how the interactions between them affect the total benefits and costs of any given policy change. This paper investigates the interactions between health and nutritional assistance programs such as Medicaid, SNAP, WIC, and school lunch programs. Since 1999, states have been given much more flexibility to operate SNAP, and many states have expanded eligibility to include households with income and resources above the existing federal limits for SNAP. Exploiting this variation in SNAP eligibility across states and over time, I find strong evidence of program interactions: when a state moves from the federal rule to the most extensive SNAP eligibility rule, enrollment in free school lunch increases by 4 percentage points. I estimate that the federal government spends an additional 37 cents on the school lunch program for each dollar spent on SNAP due to the expansion. However, expanded eligibility for SNAP leads to a significant decrease in private insurance coverage for both adults and children, which is not fully explained by an increase in Medicaid enrollment. Exploring potential channels through which SNAP expansions affect participation in other safety net programs, I find evidence that automatic eligibility, and a reduction in employment, play a role in program interactions.

Emergency Department Use across 88 Small Areas after Affordable Care Act Implementation in Illinois

IntroductionThis study analyzes changes in hospital emergency department (ED) visit rates before and after the 2014 Affordable Care Act (ACA) insurance expansions in Illinois. We compare the association between population insurance status change and ED visit rate change between a 24-month (2012–2013) pre-ACA period and a 24-month post-ACA (2014–2015) period across 88 socioeconomically diverse areas of Illinois.MethodsWe used annual American Community Survey estimates for 2012–2015 to obtain insurance status changes for uninsured, private, Medicaid, and Medicare (disability) populations of 88 Illinois Public Use Micro Areas (PUMAs), areas with a mean of about 90,000 age 18–64 residents. Over 12 million ED visits to 201 non-federal Illinois hospitals were used to calculate visit rates by residents of each PUMA, using population-based mapping weights to allocate visits from zip codes to PUMAs. We then estimated n=88 correlations between population insurance-status changes and changes in ED visit rates per 1,000 residents comparing the two years before and after ACA implementation.ResultsThe baseline PUMA uninsurance rate ranged from 6.7% to 41.1% and there was 4.6-fold variation in baseline PUMA ED visit rates. The top quartile of PUMAs had >21,000 reductions in uninsured residents; 16 PUMAs had at least a 15,000 person increase in Medicaid enrollment. Compared to 2012–2013, 2014–2015 average monthly ED visits by the uninsured dropped 42%, but increased 42% for Medicaid and 10% for the privately insured. Areas with the largest increases in Medicaid enrollment experienced the largest growth in ED use; change in Medicaid enrollment was the only significant correlate of area change in total ED visits and explained a third of variation across the 88 PUMAs.ConclusionACA implementation in Illinois accelerated existing trends towards greater use of hospital ED care. It remains to be seen whether providing better access to primary and preventive care to the formerly uninsured will reduce ED use over time, or whether ACA insurance expansion is a part of continued, long-term growth. Monitoring ED use at the local level is critical to the success of new home- and community-based care coordination initiatives.

Expanding Medicaid, Expanding the Electorate: The Affordable Care Act's Short-Term Impact on Political Participation.

The Affordable Care Act is a landmark piece of social legislation with the potential to reshape health care in the United States. Its potential to reshape politics is also considerable, but existing scholarship suggests conflicting expectations about the law's policy feedbacks, especially given uneven state-level implementation. In this article I focus on the policy feedbacks of the law's Medicaid expansion on political participation, using district-level elections data for 2012 and 2014 US House races and cross-sectional survey data from 2014. I find that the increases in Medicaid enrollment associated with the expansion are related to considerably higher voter turnout and that this effect was likely due to both an increase in turnout for new beneficiaries and a backlash effect among conservative voters opposed to the law and its implementation. These results have important implications for our understanding of the ACA and of the impact of welfare state expansions on political participation, particularly in federalized systems.