Las Vegas Sun: Decision to expand Medicaid has been fruitful for state

By the Editorial Board | July 10, 2019

Nevada was an early adopter of Medicaid expansion in 2014, and since then has fought against Republican-led efforts to weaken the program.

Now, new studies are starting to quantify the gains we’ve achieved through our efforts. And those gains are impressive.

JAMA Cardiology, published by the American Medical Association, reported last month on a study in which researchers showed that Medicaid expansion reduced deaths from cardiovascular causes by an average of 4.3 people per 100,000. In arriving at that figure, the researchers showed that mortality rates increased among residents in states that hadn’t adopted Medicaid expansion, while the rates in Nevada and other expansion states stayed flat.

Think about that. With our state population of about 3 million, that’s nearly 130 Nevadans per year whose lives were saved thanks to newly acquired Medicaid access. And considering that Nevada adopted expansion in 2014, the five-year total of lives saved is at 650 and counting.

Read more here.