George Washington University Launches Medicaid Workforce Tracker

To improve access to high-quality Medicaid services, experts must first locate the gaps in healthcare providers available to patients who rely on this health insurance. Researchers at the George Washington University today launched an interactive online tracking system that identifies states and counties in the United States that suffer from a shortage of primary care providers who see Medicaid patients.

Even small bills for health insurance may cause healthy low-income people to drop coverage

Twenty dollars a month might not seem like a lot to pay for health insurance. But for people getting by on $15,000 a year, it’s enough to make some drop their coverage – especially if they’re healthy. That could keep them from getting preventive or timely care, and could leave their insurance company with a sicker pool of patients than before.

ACA has helped protect low-income patients from catastrophic spending for surgery

n the years after 2014, when the Affordable Care Act’s health insurance marketplaces were established, low-income patients who underwent a surgical procedure saved an average of $601 in out-of-pocket spending and $968 in premium spending per year, compared to before the marketplaces existed. Those low-income patients also had a 35% lower chance of having catastrophic levels of household medical spending.

However, for middle-income patients, spending levels were about the same before and after the marketplaces began.