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Health Policy in Brief

An RWJF Collection

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In States That Don't Expand Medicaid, Who Gets New Coverage Assistance Under the ACA and Who Doesn't?

Two young women fill out an enrollment form.

Millions of women, minorities, young adults and those with low incomes are ineligible for any health insurance assistance because their state opted not to expand Medicaid.

The Issue

This research provides more evidence that state officials’ decisions against expansion adversely affect already disadvantaged residents. While 5.9 million adults with moderate incomes in nonexpanding states qualify for financial assistance to purchase insurance through the new marketplaces, nearly 6.3 million uninsured residents with lower incomes remain ineligible for help because the state’s Medicaid program was not expanded. The median income of those ineligible for coverage assistance is less than $800 a month, compared to more than $2,000 a month for those eligible to receive subsidies.

Who's Ineligible?

  • 4.4 million Americans with a high school education or less

  • 3.1 million women

  • 1.6 million African-Americans

  • 1.5 million people under age 25

  • 1.3 million Latinos

Conclusion

This latest Quick Strike from the Urban Institute finds that millions of women, minorities, young adults and those with low incomes are ineligible for health insurance assistance because their state opted not to expand Medicaid.

 

About the Grantee

The Urban Institute is a nonprofit, nonpartisan policy research and educational organization that examines the social, economic and governance problems facing the nation. For more information, visit www.urban.org. Follow the Urban Institute on Twitter www.urban.org/twitter or Facebook www.urban.org/facebook. More information specific to the Urban Institute’s Health Policy Center, its staff, and its recent research can be found at www.healthpolicycenter.org.

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