States that didn’t expand Medicaid should look at the numbers

Regarding Modern Healthcare’s ongoing coverage of Medicaid expansion—and non-expansion— there are plenty of reasons why many of the “red states” are less healthy. Some are lifestyle choices, but some are not.

Using findings from the County Health Rankings & Roadmaps program, sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, we compared our home state to the nation, finding that Georgia isn’t very healthy. We also looked at each of the 17 states, all red, that have refused to expand Medicaid. Many of them also are not very healthy.

Premature deaths (defined as “years of potential life lost before age 75”) for the U.S. overall are 6,700 for every 100,000 residents. For Georgia, the figure is 7,500 per 100,000. And the worst-rated county in the state has 16,200 deaths per 100,000 residents. Georgians also self-reported perceived poor/fair health in general at a higher rate than Americans nationwide, 19% vs. 16%. And it’s not just the Deep South that sees these trends on premature deaths.

Of course, one likely reason for poor health in these states is that they have more medically uninsured (under age 65) versus the national rate. In Georgia, the uninsured rate is 16% vs. 11% nationally. Our governor and Legislature refuse to expand Medicaid, even though 90% of the cost of expansion is funded by the federal government.

The majority of those gaining coverage through Medicaid would be the working poor. And hospitals serving a disproportionate number of uninsured would see lower bad debt and charity care. Public subsidies paid via local taxes could also be reduced.