“We saw this decrease in uninsured rates as a result of the increase in Medicaid coverage, which makes sense because Medicaid generally increased with the ACA because of the expansion of Medicaid and the mandate for uninsured. back to school,” Geissler said. “People who didn’t know they were eligible or didn’t apply for Medicaid before were able to be protected after the ACA.”
About 70% of insured people with schizophrenia were covered by Medicaid post-ACA, compared to 61% pre-ACA, the researchers estimated. Coverage increased to 43% after the ACA, from 38% before the ACA. Private insurance dropped slightly to 19% after the ACA from 22% before the ACA.
Geissler said the findings are an encouragement to the general public for people with schizophrenia. “I’m glad to see that the uninsured rate is as low as it is. More people are covered now than ever before.”
Research has also shown that effective care is available for this frail patient population. “We know that having insurance improves a lot of different problems, but we haven’t looked specifically at whether this increase in insurance for people with schizophrenia is associated with increased access,” he said. this. “We suspect so, but we are not sure.”