Study: Many will die if PA Medicaid is not expanded

LEHIGH VALLEY MORNING CALL: The Corbett administration’s decision not to expand Medicaid under the new federal health-care law will result in an additional 400-1,500 deaths in Pennsylvania a year, nearly 13,000 additional families with catastrophic medical expenses and tens of thousands of cases of untreated depression, diabetes and missed screening tests, according to a study published Thursday.

Gathered by researchers from Harvard University and the City University of New York, the estimates show that in the states that opted out of expanding Medicaid, 7,000-17,000 additional deaths will occur among people who would have been covered had expansion been supported.

“We predict that many low-income women will forego recommended breast and cervical cancer screening; diabetics will forego medications and all low-income adults will face a greater likelihood of depression, catastrophic medical expenses and death,” researchers wrote in the study, which was released on the website of the journal Health Affairs… (more)

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