There is clear evidence that after a decade of Medicaid expansion there are significant cost savings to state budgets and state general funds! (Report is here and you can download it below, too!)
Key Findings
- During 2014–17, Medicaid expansion was associated with a 4.4 percent to 4.7 percent reduction in state spending on traditional Medicaid. Estimates of savings outside of the Medicaid program vary significantly.
- Savings on mental health care, in the corrections system, and from reductions in uncompensated care range from 14 percent of the cost of expansion in Kentucky to 30 percent in Arkansas.
Medicaid expansion also has a meaningful impact on the uncompensated care rates at hospitals, especially rural hospitals. In many of our Wyoming communities, hospitals are the largest employers and significant economic drivers so their health matters to our overall economic health as a state.
- In non-Medicaid expansion states uncompensated care rates fell at 2% compared with a 45% decrease in Medicaid expansion states.
- In Wyoming, if we had reached the 45% decrease we would have saved an estimated $55.35 million.
- That report is here.
Why is this the case?
- The relationship between declines in the uninsured rate and uncompensated care was stronger in expansion states.
- That’s because Medicaid serves the most financially vulnerable people, who are least able to pay medical bills when uninsured.
- Low income patients are less likely to be able to pay and this can decrease their likelihood to seek care, impacts their credit scores, and can lead to bankruptcy
- Burden hospitals and prevent investment in new technologies and equipment, maintain needed capacity to serve patients or remain open
- Burdens states as they often pay part of these costs for public hospitals and safety net providers
What about enrollment?
Numerous states have not exceeded their initial enrollment projections–including our neighbors Idaho and North Dakota, as just two examples. For many states who adopted expansion more recently, they had the ability to do what Wyoming Dept of Health has done in running sophisticated models about enrollment.
