ACA, Medicaid expansion reduce income inequality, study finds

Coverage gains made and subsidies offered under the Affordable Care Act reduced income inequality by more than 10% in 2019, according to a new study (Source: “ACA's coverage gains decreased income inequality: study,” Fierce Healthcare, Jan. 7).

The study from the left-leaning think tank Urban Institute, backed by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and published in Health Affairs, found that for a typical person in the bottom 10th percentile of income, those who enrolled in a plan under the ACA saw their incomes increase by an average of 18.8%.

In states that expanded Medicaid, their incomes rose by an average of 22%, the study found. The study also found that coverage gains led to reductions in income inequality within and between age and racial groups.