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Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Oregon tops Medicaid expansion; even in states that didn't expand, a million people signed up

Among states that chose to expand Medicaid under federal health reform, Oregon led with a 52 percent increase in enrollment from October 2013 to May 2014, while Delaware was last with a 4 percent increase, Molly Warren reports for Enroll America.

Among states that chose not to expand Medicaid to 138 percent of the federal poverty threshold, a million new people still signed up. Montana had the biggest increase, while North Carolina, Alaska, Mississippi and Missouri saw enrollment decrease.

In both types of states, "Many people who were always eligible for the program have finally decided to sign up," explains Margo Sanger-Katz of The New York Times. "New online marketplaces and all the public conversation around new insurance options encouraged them to apply and get benefits they were always eligible for. There are quite a lot of uninsured people in the country who fall into this category. A 2012 study in the journal Health Affairs estimated that, in some states, fewer than half of all eligible people were enrolled in their state’s programs."

Overall, 7 million people enrolled in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program between October 2013 and May 2014, an increase of 11.4 percent, Warren writes. Statistics for Connecticut, Maine and North Dakota were unavailable. (Enroll America graphic)
 

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