A study conducted by researchers at the University of Michigan concluded this week that residents enrolled in the state's expanded Medicaid program saw improvements to both their health and job performance. In addition, Medicaid had positive effects on both the employed and out of work who were enrolled in the Healthy Michigan plan.
“Going into more detail, those enrollees in the expanded Medicaid program or Healthy Michigan who already had jobs, almost 70 percent of those said the Healthy Michigan plan helped them do a better job at work. And for those who were out of work,” Dr. Renuka Tipirneni, one of the study’s co-investigators said. “And 55 percent (of the unemployed) thought that the program helped them to be better able to look for a job,” she said.
Tipirneni says that the majority of people who said they were doing better at work had also improved physical or mental health after having access to health care.
“Those people who said they had improved physical or mental health, they were three or four times as likely to report being able to do a better job at work, or being able to look for a job,” she said.
Earlier this week, the Congressional Budget Office analysis of the Senate Republican plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act found if the bill passes, 15 million people enrolled in Medicaid would lose their health coverage, and 22 million more Americans would be uninsured by 2026.
