Analysis: Majority of New Medicaid Beneficiaries Live in 10 States
Ten states accounted for more than 80% of the three million new enrollees in Medicaid who signed up under the Affordable Care Act, according to an Avalere Health analysis of new CMS data, the Washington Times reports (Howell, Washington Times, 4/7).
Last week, CMS reported that at least three million people had enrolled in Medicaid since October 2013, and as many as 11.7 million people were determined to be eligible for Medicaid and CHIP from Oct. 1, 2013, through the end of February (California Healthline, 4/7).
Analysis Findings
The Avalere report found that since Oct. 1, each of the 10 states reported more than 100,000 new Medicaid enrollees during the open enrollment period for the ACA's insurance exchanges.
The 10 states are:
- California;
- Colorado;
- Florida;
- Kentucky;
- Maryland;
- Massachusetts;
- New York;
- Oregon;
- Washington; and
- West Virginia (Adams, CQ HealthBeat, 4/7).
Of those 10 states, four -- California, Florida, Oregon and Washington -- enrolled the most new Medicaid participants. In addition, Florida is the only state that has not expanded its Medicaid program under the ACA; it reported enrolling more than 100,000 new beneficiaries.
Jenna Stento, senior manager at Avalere, said that analysts continue "to see dramatic variations across the states in terms of enrollment into new coverage programs." She added, "While some differences may be the result of state decisions to expand Medicaid, certain non-expansion states are also seeing large increases in Medicaid enrollment" (Washington Times, 4/7).
Analysts noted about 700,000 more individuals will be enrolled in Medicaid if enrollment trends through the end of March were the same as they were in February (CQ HealthBeat, 4/7).
This is part of the California Healthline Daily Edition, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.