Medicaid: The Actual Consequences of Obstruction

There's been a lot of talk about Richmond about alleged Medicaid fraud, the Federal deficit, and many other excuses for inaction on Virginia's stingiest-in-the-United States Medicaid system that have been around for about the last 20 years.

Back in January, The Health Affairs Blog posted an interesting analysis of the real consequences of failing to expand Medicaid on a state-by-state basis.

The Health Affairs Blog: Opting Out of Medicaid Expansion: The Health and Financial Impacts (Jan. 30, 2014)

The blog uses the Kaiser Family Foundation's Status of State Action on the Medicaid Expansion Decision updated on November 22, 2013 as compared with the 2013 U.S. Census Estimates.

Here are their conclusions for the Commonwealth of Virginia for a twelve-month period:

• 26,656 - Estimated Number of Individuals Suffering Depression (Lack of Antidepressants)
• 15,819 - Estimated Number of Individuals Not Utilizing Diabetes Medications
• 9,166 - Estimated Number of Women Foregoing Cancer Screening (Mammograms) 
• 17,788 - Estimated Number of Women Foregoing Cancer Screening (Pap Smears)
• 8,165 - Estimated Number of People with Catastrophic Medical Expenses 
• 266 to 987 - Estimated Number of Deaths 

You can see the full chart below.