If all 50 states had expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), approximately 15,600 deaths of Americans ages 55-64 could have been averted, according to a new working paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research. The ACA’s expansion of Medicaid to those under 138 percent of the federal poverty line was made optional for states by a 2012 Supreme Court ruling. Now, 36 states and the District of Columbia have expanded Medicaid. The report finds that states that expanded Medicaid saw lower mortality rates for near-elderly residents driven by a reduction in disease-related deaths.
