Study: Fewer hospital patients uninsured after ACA expanded coverage

The proportion of hospital emergency department visits by uninsured patients declined 2.1 percentage points per year between 2014 and 2016, just after the health insurance exchanges opened and states began expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, according to a study reported Friday in JAMA Network Open. The proportion of hospital discharges by uninsured patients declined by 1 percentage point between 2014 and 2016, the study found. Nearly one in 10 ED visits and one in 20 hospitalizations were still uninsured in 2016, which the authors said “represents an important gap that policy makers should continue to address.”
 
Preserving coverage remains a priority for the AHA. In a friend-of-the-court brief filed this month, the AHA joined by other hospital groups urged the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals to reverse the U.S. District Court’s ruling last year that struck down the entire ACA. Twenty-one Democratic attorneys general are appealing the ruling and the House of Representatives has intervened to defend the ACA in the case. The law continues in effect while the ruling is appealed.