Washington, D.C. — A new Center for American Progress report quantifies the potential benefits of Medicaid expansion in Texas and the 18 other states that have not yet implemented Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act.
The report looks at 12 ways that Texas’ failure to expand Medicaid is harming Texans, depriving them of health-related benefits such as additional lives saved, fewer infant deaths, and more early cancer diagnoses, as well as nonhealth benefits such as fewer bankruptcies, lower medical debts, and enhanced public safety.
“Our report shows that not expanding Medicaid is literally costing lives,” says Rachel West, director of research for the Poverty to Prosperity Program at the Center for American Progress. “Every year more than 3,500 Texans die simply because they live in a state that has chosen not to expand Medicaid. And thousands of Texans face avoidable financial harm solely because Gov. Greg Abbott (R) and the state Legislature refuse to expand Medicaid.”
The report estimates that if Texas were to fully expand Medicaid in 2019, the benefits would include:
- Additional lives saved per year: 3,557
- Additional infant lives saved per year: 31
- Additional cancer diagnoses per year: 962
- Additional early-stage cancer diagnoses per year: 775
- Reduction in families’ collection balances: $1,920.9 million
- Bankruptcies prevented per year: 194
- Reduction in families’ accrued medical debt: $1,550.2 million
- Money kept in families’ pockets from less costly credit per year: $478.5 million
- Savings to local communities from enhanced public safety per year: $1,626.9 million
These and other effects are broken down for Texas and other nonexpansion states. Find the figures for your state here.
For more information or to speak to an expert, contact Julia Cusick at [email protected] or 202-495-3682