Medicaid expansion leads to more diabetes diagnoses

The 26 states that expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act have an increased number of newly diagnoses diabetes patients, according a new study in the journal Diabetes Care, which likely means that providers in the Medicaid expansion states are able to diagnose and treat these patients earlier. "I cannot think of any other explanation except these people have now got health insurance" and are thus getting tested for diabetes, study co-author Vivian Fonseca, a professor of medicine at Tulane University, told the Washington Post. This, in turn, "could be anticipated to lead to better long-term outcomes," the study concludes. Study abstract