Many Americans who are just above the poverty level will have better access to higher quality health care through the health insurance exchange than through Medicaid, according to a study from the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA).
The working poor will qualify for free, subsidized private insurance that pays doctors and hospitals at higher rates than Medicaid. Overall, private insurers pay physicians fees that are about 75% more generous than what Medicaid pays. In California, private insurers pay physician fees about 120% more than what Medicaid pays.
New York, California, Texas, New Jersey and Florida stand to gain the most by letting working poor residents access private coverage in the exchange. These five states would enjoy an additional $140 billion in medical spending; accounting for nearly two-thirds of the total $223 billion. California would get $31 billion.
NCPA Senior Fellow Devon Herrick says the government is willing to subsidize most of the premiums for private insurance for those just above 100% of the poverty line, but not for those below the poverty line. In the exchange, a family pays no more than 2% of its income for insurance and the government pays the rest. But, people below 100% of poverty can’t go into the exchange because of the way the ACA was written. Because Medicaid pays so little, a third of physicians won’t accept new Medicaid patients so people on Medicaid tend to overuse emergency rooms. For more information, visithttp://www.ncpa.org/pub/st343.
