Report Shows Multiple Benefits From State's Medicaid Expansion

The Kasich administration is reporting the state's 2014 Medicaid expansion resulted in a host of health and financial benefits for poor Ohioans. The administration's  analysis was requested by the General Assembly. Among 702 thousand people who gained coverage as of May 2016, 75 percent had been previously uninsured. New enrollees typically were unmarried white men with a high-school diploma or less. Forty-three percent were employed. More than a quarter of new enrollees have been diagnosed with chronic conditions, a third had depression or anxiety disorders and 32 percent were diagnosed with substance abuse or dependence. The analysis was based on a telephone survey of more than 75 hundred Medicaid beneficiaries and a review of medical records.