Thursday, April 9, 2015

The Affordable Care Act and Diabetes

Harvey W. Kaufman and colleagues just published an excellent analysis of the impact of the Affordable Care Act in Diabetes Care. Using laboratory testing orders sent to Quest Diagnostics (a large national clinical laboratory provider), they found how many patients were newly diagnosed with diabetes since the Act went into effect. The 26 states and District of Columbia that took advantage of Medicaid expansion under the Act saw a substantial 13% increase in the number of diabetics identified. The 24 states that limited Medicaid expansion saw only 0.4% more diabetics.

An accompanying editorial by William H. Herman and William T. Cefalu reminds us that this lost opportunity to improve health in half the states is due to a Supreme Court decision allowing states to opt out of Medicaid expansion. Thanks, Supreme Court!