Medicaid enrollees have better access to medical care than people who are uninsured, according to a new insurance industry study that refutes critics who say patients are better off without the government program for the poor.
“The story is pretty simple: Medicaid is a very important component to our ecosystem,” said Craig Burns, vice president of policy and research at America’s Health Insurance Plans, the nation’s largest health insurer lobby. “It provides services and access to a very vulnerable portion of the population.”
The study from AHIP found that adult Medicaid enrollees were almost five times more likely, and children four times more likely, to have a consistent place where they receive healthcare than those who are uninsured. Adults also were more than four times more likely, and children were two to three times more likely, to get preventive care compared with people who are uninsured.
Results are based on medical surveys conducted among 38,678 people from 2013 to 2015.
Critics have raised concerns about people with Medicaid having inadequate access to medical care, pointing to studies that show roughly a third of doctors do not accept patients on the program. That is partly because the reimbursement level is lower than that of private coverage.
“Some say it’s a broken system and that people are better off having no coverage at all,” said Rhys Jones, head of Medicaid programs at AHIP. “This research set out to test that premise.”
But the study did not compare access between people with private medical coverage and people on Medicaid, a government program that covers low-income people in most states and also covers pregnant women, children, people with disabilities, and children from low- and middle-income households.
Obamacare originally mandated that all states expand Medicaid to people making roughly $16,000 a year or less, but the Supreme Court made the provision optional. As a result, 18 states have not expanded the program. Medicaid covers 74 million people, and 28 million people in the U.S. are uninsured.
Health insurance plans often partner with state Medicaid programs, called Medicaid managed care, which cover the majority — 52 million — of Medicaid enrollees.
Jones said the contracts, which pay insurance companies to provide and coordinate coverage, help manage medical benefits and monitor how patients are progressing.
