Physician acceptance of Medicare patients remained about the same in most counties after implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) coverage expansion. Overall, Medicaid expansion, relative to not expanding Medicaid, had no effect or a slightly positive effect on physicians’ acceptance rates of new Medicare patients.
Coverage gains from the ACA stalled in 2017 despite a strong economy, with an increase of 700,000 uninsured Americans between 2016 and 2017. The increases in uninsurance were concentrated in states that did not expand Medicaid eligibility under the ACA.
This brief identifies high-uninsurance communities in Massachusetts and provides new information about the characteristics of these communities and their uninsured residents to inform targeted outreach efforts. The study finds that Massachusetts’s uninsured are concentrated in a relatively small number of communities, primarily in and around Boston.
The growth in per capita health spending from the Great Recession until after full implementation of the ACA was largely driven by increases in per unit prices, quality, or intensity of treatment. Changes in health insurance played a significant role in the increase in per capita expenditures over this period.
A new funding opportunity from Policies for Action, a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation research program overseen by the Urban Institute, will support early-career researchers from underrepresented and historically disadvantaged backgrounds to help find solutions that promote health equity and build a Culture of Health.
