Providers are less likely to accept Medicaid patients than people on other types of health insurance,
according to a new Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program Payment and Access Commission report.
[*]Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act has had no impact on whether doctors accept the insurance. MACPAC didn't find any difference between Medicaid expansion and non-expansion states except for obstetrician/gynecologists. Those specialists were more likely to accept new Medicaid patients in non-expansion states than expansion states (90% compared to 74%).
[*]One likely reason fewer doctors accept Medicaid patients is that those claims are paid at a lower rate than other insurance. More providers would be interested in Medicaid if the program's reimbursements weremore like medicare.