We found that, contrary to many people’s expectations, Medicaid increased use of the ED by 40 percent. This let us gauge the effects of the program itself, isolated from the usual confounding factors, and allowed us to collect thousands of stories-otherwise known as data!-about people’s experiences on and off of Medicaid.
OBAMACARE SUCCESS STORY TRIAL
In 2008, Oregon used a lottery to allocate a limited number of Medicaid slots – generating, in essence, a randomized controlled trial of Medicaid. Solid evidence is very hard to come by, but we had an opportunity to evaluate the impact of expanding Medicaid using scientifically rigorous methods rarely available in answering public policy questions. Medicaid Coverage and Care UseĪ key question in the Medicaid debate is whether expanded coverage reduces the use of the Emergency Department (ED) – getting people into the doctor’s office earlier, improving health, and reducing health care spending. Unfortunately, as moving as those stories can be, they can just as easily lead us in the wrong direction as the right one. Policies are not enacted in the abstract they affect real people’s lives, and we should all be concerned with how policy changes help or harm them. The stories that are told about the effectiveness-or lack thereof-of coverage in improving health and health care usually relate compelling personal experiences, putting a human face on an otherwise abstract argument. In fact, a new Washington Post-ABC News poll shows that the majority of people believe the technical issues with the Obamacare website indicate a broader issue with the law overall.States, patients, and voters are wrestling with the pros and cons of dramatic changes in public health insurance coverage, including extending, maintaining, or rolling back Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) – an often emotional topic of debate. He goes on to list example after example, which you can read here.Ī hyped-up speech cannot undo the reality of what Obamacare is doing to people all across the nation - or change the optics that this major technical failure has reflected. That is, in the White House’s estimation, an Obamacare success story. So, Hassan is employed, not covered, and has not yet succeeded in finding coverage through Obamacare. to process his application and is waiting for the options for potential plans in Philadelphia.” Hassan, who does not receive coverage through his employer, is looking forward to enrolling for health coverage this fall. York writes:įor example, a Pennsylvania man named Malik Hassan was in the group, and this is the White House description of his situation, in full: “Malik Hassan works at a restaurant in Philadelphia. Nearly every single person who stood behind the President had not yet enrolled in the Obamacare exchanges. “…it’s clear the administration was stretching to present people who, beyond supporting Obamacare, have actually gained from it in any tangible way,” writes York.Īfter the major failure of in recent weeks, Obama had to do damage control, but the speech is hardly convincing in light of the facts behind the issue - and even those he chose to represent him. During his speech today in the Rose Garden, President Obama stood in front of a group of individuals he claimed represented the “success stories” of Obamacare.īut “success” is relative, as the Washington Examiner’s Byron York discovered today after checking the backgrounds of those standing for Obamacare at the press conference. The White House’s definition of “success” may seem a little more than jaded after you read this.