The decision by 22 states not to expand Medicaid under the will ACA will result in 5,200 
avoidable deaths each year, according to a White House Report, along with hundreds of thousands of Americans not receiving needed medical care and health screenings such as cholesterol tests, mammograms and pap smears.
The 44-page report “Missed Opportunities: The Consequences of State Decisions Not to Expand Medicaid,” details the medical and economic benefits that would result if the 22 state followed the example of the 28 states and the District of Columbia that have taken advantage of the federally subsidized expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. (Montana is moving toward the “expansion” column.)
“These 22 states have seen sharply slower progress in reducing the number of uninsured over the last year and a half,” the report notes, adding, “If these states do not change course, 4.3 million of their citizens will be deprived of health insurance coverage in 2016.”
Expansion of Medicaid coverage in all 22 states would result in dramatic improvements in health care, funded by an estimated $29 billion in 2016 federal spending, the report states.
About 1 million people would gain access to a primary care doctor, and nearly half of them would receive “all needed care ” in a given year.
Hundreds of thousands would receive recommended preventive care, including 626,000 getting screened for cholesterol, 163,000 women receiving mammograms and 262,000 receiving access to Papanicolaou tests, or “pap smears.”
Direct benefits to those who would be covered by Medicaid include 572,000 who would report being in “excellent, very good or good” health; 393,000 fewer people experiencing symptoms of depression; and 5,200 fewer deaths each year.
With access to health coverage, 193,000 fewer people would face catastrophic out-of-pocket medical expenses in a typical year, and 611,000 fewer people would have trouble paying other bills because of the burden of heavy medical expenses.
The $29 billion the 22 states would receive from the federal government in Medicaid funding would improve the economies of these states by enabling low-income residents to access health care. It would also reduce by $4.4 billion the uncompensated care costs now borne by hospitals and health care providers.
