Medicaid Expansion dramatically increased coverage for people with opioid-use disorders

(KVLY)
Published: Feb. 28, 2018 at 1:50 PM CST
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The latest data from the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality highlight the importance of the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) Medicaid expansion in increasing insurance coverage among people with opioid-use disorders (OUD).

The analysis offers a comprehensive picture of opioid-related hospitalizations around the country, finds that the share of hospitalizations in which the patient was uninsured fell dramatically in states that expanded Medicaid: from 13.4 percent in 2013 (the year before expansion took effect) to just 2.9 percent two years later. This steep decline indicates that many uninsured people coping with OUDs have gained coverage through Medicaid expansion.

In addition, the data rebut claims that Medicaid expansion contributed to the opioid crisis. Opioid-related hospitalizations were higher in expansion than non-expansion states as early as 2011, three years before Medicaid expansion took effect, and have been growing at roughly the same rate in expansion and non-expansion states since expansion took effect. Medicaid is part of the solution to the opioid crisis, not a cause.