Medicaid expansion under health reform may increase service use and improve access for low-income adults with diabetes

Medicaid's key role in financing diabetes care will grow when many low-income uninsured people with diabetes gain eligibility to the program in 2014 under the Affordable Care Act. Using a national data set to describe current health care use and spending among the nonelderly, low-income adult population, we found that adult Medicaid beneficiaries with diabetes had total annual per capita health expenditures more than three times higher ($14,229 versus $4,568) than those of adult beneficiaries without diabetes. At the same time, Medicaid facilitates financial protection and care access among beneficiaries with diabetes. Low-income adults with diabetes who were uninsured used fewer services, spent more out of pocket, and reported worse access than did their peers who were covered by Medicaid. Uninsured adults with diabetes who gain Medicaid coverage under health reform are likely to enter the program with unmet needs, and coverage is likely to result in both improved access and increased use of health care.