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As the health care system continues to evolve, this month's Health Affairs includes papers that cover a range of emerging and long-standing topics. Here are a few highlights.
IMPROVING COVERAGE AND ACCESS
People with HIV stand to benefit from the Medicaid expansion included in the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Less likely to have children than the population as a whole, many people with HIV did not meet historical eligibility requirements for Medicaid, but they do now based on their low income. Fred Hellinger compares hospitalized individuals with HIV in states that expanded Medicaid with those in states that did not. Expansion states saw a declining share of hospitalizations among people with HIV attributable to people without insurance, while in nonexpansion states, the share grew. Strikingly, uninsured hospital patients with HIV were 40 percent more likely than insured patients with HIV to die during their stay, suggesting the critical role the Medicaid expansion can play in improving outcomes for this vulnerable population.
Another group that stands to benefit from the ACA Medicaid expansion is people involved in the criminal justice system. Disproportionately sick,...