Doctor Patient Consultation

A MacArthur-supported study recently released in The New England Journal of Medicine found that access to Medicaid increased the use of healthcare but did not necessarily improve the basic health of adults over a two-year period, judging from blood pressure, blood sugar and other measures. The Oregon Health Study compared a randomized sample of adults who received access to Medicaid with an identical population that did not. The ongoing study did find, however, that Medicaid helped to reduce substantially the incidence of depression and made patients more financially secure.