The Need For Medicaid

A study of one year duration in Oregon indicates people are better off with medicaid than no health insurance. Observations to date speak more to utilization of services and surveys of satisfaction than changes in health status. More medical care and secondary prevention can lead to improved health status at greater cost but this study does not yet support that conclusion. The important study would be to compare these results to primary prevention by means of lifestyle changes in a similar population. Interestingly, the desired outcome in the primary prevention study is improved health status with decrease in the need for medicaid.