Study: Expanding Medicaid would help many young white men, thus may cost less than expected

Many people "who would become newly eligible for Medicaid are going to be younger white males who aren’t sick yet – but who are more likely to be smokers and drinkers who would benefit from getting medical care now," according to a University of Michigan study published in the Annals of Family Medicine, Maggie Fox reports for NBC News. Dr. Tammy Chang, co-author of the study, told Fox that if more younger people are eligible, as opposed to more older people (which is what most people thought would happen with the expansion), providing Medicaid to more people could cost less than expected.

"Currently, the average Medicaid patient is 38.7 years old," Fox reports. "If all the states expanded Medicaid – and not all will – the average age would go down to 36.3. Right now a third of patients are male; under a full expansion, 49 percent would be. Right now, almost precisely half of beneficiaries are white; under the expansion, nearly 59 percent would be." The study states: “Overall, potentially eligible adults are expected to have better health status (34.8 percent 'excellent' or 'very good,' 40.4 percent 'good') than current beneficiaries (33.5 percent 'excellent' or 'very good,' 31.6 percent, 'good'.”

Chang told Fox that fewer eligible people "would be obese and fewer would be depressed. But more would be smokers and heavy drinkers. Because these potential patients said their health was good, this could mean there’s an opportunity for doctors to help them stop smoking and cut back on their drinking before they do get sick." (Read more) (Kaiser Family Foundation map)