Medicaid’s impact, finally measured
Enrolling in Medicaid significantly improves the overall health and financial stability of low-income Americans, according to a new study co-authored by MIT researchers who’ve used a unique program in Oregon to shine a light on the effects of public health insurance.The research shows that Medicaid recipients are far more likely to receive health care than the uninsured. Citizens with Medicaid are 30 percent more likely to have a hospital stay, 35 percent more likely to have an outpatient visit to a doctor, and 15 percent more likely to take prescription drugs, compared to similar low-income citizens not enrolled in the program.“There has been a lot of genuine uncertainty about whether it makes a difference when you give people Medicaid,” says Amy Finkelstein, a professor in MIT’s Department of Economics and one of the principal investigators of the study. “The short answer from our study is that it does.”People enrolled in...