As I reported on Wednesday, a landmark new study in the New England Journal of Medicine found that an expansion of Medicaid in Oregon did not improve physical health care outcomes among enrollees. This bombshell finding in a scientifically rigorous study (which included Obamacare’s intellectual architect Jonathan Gruber among its co-authors) has rocked the health care policy world.

Predictably, defenders of Medicaid have jumped to downplay the results or explain them in a favorable light. The New Republic’s Jonathan Cohn noted that though there was no improvement in the physical health of Medicaid beneficiaries (measured by such factors as cholesterol, blood pressure and blood sugar levels), the results found that Medicaid lessened the financial strain on families and improved mental health. This spin was embraced by the broader media. The Associated Press reported on the study with the headline: “Medicaid improved mental health for uninsured.”