A newly released Annals of Emergency Medicine study by lead author Sayeh Nikpay, PhD, assistant professor of Health Policy at Vanderbilt University Medical Center found fewer uninsured patients are walking through the doors of Emergency Departments in states that expanded Medicaid coverage under ACA, even though the total number of visits has increased since 2014.

Nikpay said the increase was "modest," with 2.5 more ED visits per 1,000 people in states that expanded Medicaid coverage under the ACA. Uninsured care for those patients decreased by 5.3 percent during that same period after 2014, she added. The study analyzed patient visits in 25 states -14 that expanded Medicaid coverage and 11 that did not - and found the share of visits covered by private insurance remained constant for expansion states and increased by several percentage points for non-expansion states. Gains in insurance coverage in non-expansion states were almost entirely in the form of private coverage.

"Our results suggest that the coverage part of the ACA Medicaid expansion is working," Nikpay said. "People who need care can access care. However, it isn't surprising that emergency department visits didn't fall because even if you gained Medicaid coverage, the ACA did little to make primary care more accessible, for example, offering evening and weekend hours."

The study analyzed patient visits in 25 states -14 that expanded Medicaid coverage and 11 that did not - and found the share of visits covered by private insurance remained constant for expansion states and increased by several percentage points for non-expansion states.