So far, Oklahoma has not accepted federal funds to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, but a new report says it could be good for uninsured citizens and the state's bottom line.
"Even with that 10 percent that they're going to face eventually, many states are reporting positive economic effects," said Rachel Garfield, a senior researcher with the Kaiser Family Foundation and one of the report's authors. "Also, for the providers, I think there's a pretty strong body of evidence there that many people in the state, if not necessarily the state budget itself, do stand to benefit."
Garfield and other researchers reviewed dozens of studies of Medicaid expansion's effects. States that have expanded have seen big drops in uninsured rates, but not all of them report low-income people are getting more care or are any healthier than before.
That may be a matter of timing.
"So, you get your coverage. You may not use it right away," Garfield said. "Over the next year or two, as you begin to use it or maybe have a health incident, then we will see those access effects."
Expansion has been good for hospitals, too.
"In the states that expanded Medicaid, there was a precipitous drop in uncompensated care between 2013 and 2014," Garfield said. "We didn't see that drop in states that did not expand."
In 2012, uncompensated care cost Oklahoma hospitals $547 million. At some rural hospitals, uncompensated care accounted for more than 10 percent of their budgets.
Around 173,000 uninsured Oklahoma adults could get Medicaid if the state expanded.
