Diabetes study shows benefits of expanded Medicaid under Obamacare

[NRSKarenRN, BSN, RN]

Found at Philadelphia Inquirer:

Diabetes study shows benefits of expanded Medicaid under Obamacare

Noam N. Levey, Tribune Washington Bureau

Posted: Tuesday, March 24, 2015

WASHINGTON – Low-income patients with diabetes are getting better access to medical care in states that have expanded Medicaid coverage through the Affordable Care Act, suggests a new study that provides one of the first indications of the sweeping law's health effects.

Residents of other states are at risk of being left behind.

The number of Medicaid patients with newly identified diabetes surged 23 percent in states that expanded their programs, an option provided by the law, but there was virtually no increase in states that declined to expand coverage, researchers found....

The study is published in Diabetes Care, the journal of the American Diabetes Association...

To assess the potential effects of those decisions, Quest Diagnostics, a leading provider of diagnostic services, analyzed its patient database of blood tests to identify Medicaid patients who were diagnosed with diabetes for the first time in 2014, the year that Medicaid expansions began under the health care law.

The researchers compared the number of newly identified diabetics in 2014 with the number of newly identified diabetics in 2013.

Not only did researchers find more newly identified diabetics in states that expanded Medicaid, they also discovered that the patients were probably being diagnosed earlier.

Newly identified diabetics in Medicaid expansion states had lower hemoglobin A1c levels, a common measure of blood sugar used to assess the progress of the disease, the study found.

Read more at Diabetes study shows benefits of expanded Medicaid under Obamacare

This will allow for earlier treatment, coverage of diabetes medications by Medicaid and hopefully lead to prevention of diabetes complications long term. Karen

[herring_RN, ASN, BSN]

This is good.

I've volunteered for Remote Area Medical.

Post Op Reports

We have found people with HTN and diabetes who had no idea why they felt so unwell.

Most had come for dental care.

I'm glad more people are diagnosed and treated. Preventing amputations, blindness, renal failure, neuopathy, and other complications is well worth it.

[toomuchbaloney]

ARe you sure?

Really?

Increased access to health care improves outcomes for diabetics, especially poor diabetics.

This must be a joke.

[MatrixRn]

As long as the docs do not get crazy and diagnose a pre-DM as a DM so they can keep them coming back into the office.

As a side note, many are coming in with ZERO experience with health care....and asking for wacky things. They are surprised they have co-pays, that the ACA plan is an HMO, only covers a certain MDs and they have a deductable. On top of this they are wondering why dental caries are not covered. I had a lady recently tell me she needed a PCP and OB. That info was given but then she wanted a doctor for each body part, he wanted to start with a leg doctor....no diagnosis...but her legs hurt and she wanted to see a leg doctor.

We have a LOT of education in front of us folks!!!

[MatrixRn]

ARe you sure?

Really?

Increased access to health care improves outcomes for diabetics, especially poor diabetics.

This must be a joke.

Just because they have health insurance does not mean they have access to care...those are two separate issues.

If someone cannot afford the copay they are not going.

If they can afford the copay, but can't afford the meds, they are not getting them.

The list goes on.......

[toomuchbaloney]

Just because they have health insurance does not mean they have access to care...those are two separate issues.

If someone cannot afford the copay they are not going.

If they can afford the copay, but can't afford the meds, they are not getting them.

The list goes on.......

Oh

okay then

we certainly don't want poor people getting care that someone else might have to pay for...

[MunoRN, RN]

Just because they have health insurance does not mean they have access to care...those are two separate issues.

If someone cannot afford the copay they are not going.

If they can afford the copay, but can't afford the meds, they are not getting them.

The list goes on.......

That's a pretty accurate description of why health insurance reform was necessary, but it's contradictory in describing the effect of reform.

While I agree that reform could have gone much farther in making healthcare affordable, it's pretty clearly more affordable than it was before, which is what the study looked at and found to be true. This was based primarily on the expansion of medicaid, which has essentially no co-pays, deductibles, etc. In order to not qualify for medicaid, a family of four has to make more than $33,000/year. Even a family of 4 making $35,000 still isn't subject to impossible costs, since they qualify for subsidies that make a $10,000 plan cost them only about $1300. Since the purpose of insurance is to cover costs beyond the absolute limit of what someone can pay themselves, they still will need to pay the first couple thousand in costs themselves, which seems pretty reasonable.

[Libby1987]

ARe you sure?

Really?

Increased access to health care improves outcomes for diabetics, especially poor diabetics.

This must be a joke.

It took a study..

[MatrixRn]

Oh

okay then

we certainly don't want poor people getting care that someone else might have to pay for...

Um, my comments were stating that even with health care they may not be able to afford it...yes it is better for the poor, but there is still a problem with access.

And whether it be from Medicaid, donations etc, people who are poor or otherwise do not have enough have had other people help pay for it for a long time...this is not new.