Chart Review: Examining Medicaid Expansion

Andrew Strohman, Health Care Data Analyst January 17, 2020

The Kaiser Family Foundation recently published a report breaking down the health insurance coverage gap. As a refresher, the coverage gap refers to individuals in non-Medicaid expansion states with income too low for Affordable Care Act marketplace subsidies but who do not qualify for Medicaid. Medicaid expansion closes this gap by expanding Medicaid eligibility effectively to all individuals at less than 138 percent of the federal poverty level, but some states have hesitated to adopt it amid concerns about the potential long-term impact on state budgets. The chart below depicts the population in the coverage gap for each state that has not expanded Medicaid. Texas contributes the largest percent of the national population in the gap at 32.7 percent (761,000 people), followed by Florida at 16.8 percent. Of note, Wisconsin has not expanded Medicaid but fills the gap with a Medicaid waiver; in other words, it solved the problem without expansion but through similar mechanisms.

Data obtained from the Kaiser Family Foundation

https://www.americanactionforum.org/weekly-checkup/the-limits-of-managed-care-hotspotting/#ixzz6BfqjZbyR
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