Expanding Medicaid led to higher colorectal cancer screening rates, according to a study published in The American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
What you should know:
1. CRC screening rates were highest states that expanded earliest, in 2010-11 — five states and Washington, D.C. An additional 21 states expanded their program in 2014 (early expanders) and five more states expanded in 2015-16 (late expanders).
2. If all states expanded their Medicaid programs when first eligible, physicians would have screened an additional 355,184 people.
3. Researchers examined screening rates between 2012 and 2016. The percentage of low-income adults who were up to date with CRC screening grew 8.8 percent in the earliest-expanding states, 2.9 percent in early-expanding states and 3.8 percent in non-expansion states. About 236,573 more low-income adults underwent a CRC screening in the earliest-expanding states in 2016.
4. Researchers noted that CRC screening rate growth was not immediate, and that growth in late-expanding states was similar to non-expansion state growth.