[Lamplighter]

NY Times
ANNIE LOWREY
5/22/12

Oregon Study Shows Benefits, and Price, for Newly Insured

But in 2008, Oregon opened its Medicaid rolls to some working-age adults living in poverty,
like Ms. Parris. Lacking the money to cover everyone, the state established a lottery,
and Ms. Parris was one of the 89,824 residents who entered in the hope of winning insurance.

With that lottery, Oregon became a laboratory for studying the effects
of extending health insurance to people who previously did not have it.
Health economists say the state has become the single best place to study
a question at the center of debate in Washington as the Supreme Court prepares to rule,
likely next week, on the constitutionality of President Obama’s health care law:
What are the costs and benefits of coverage?<snip>

For the nation, the lesson appears to be mixed.
Expanded coverage brings large benefits to many people,
but it is also more likely to increase a stretched federal government’s long-term budget responsibilities.

The newly insured were more likely to describe their health as good,
and to say that their health was getting better, according to self-reported data
that researchers are now combining with objective measurements for a deeper follow-up study.
The uninsured reported being in worse physical and mental shape and were less likely to describe themselves as happy.

Getting insurance also had powerful financial effects, the study showed.
The insured were 25 percent less likely to have an unpaid medical bill
sent to a collection agency and 40 percent less likely to borrow money
or skip paying other bills in order to cover their medical costs.
<snip>