It's common sense that giving more people access to affordable health care would help keep people healthier, but common sense isn't always provable. In the case of Medicaid expansion, though, it can be. The U.S. Supreme Court unknowingly set up a perfect experiment for studying that question in 2012, when it decided to split the Affordable Care Act baby by declaring the law constitutional, but the Medicaid expansion part of it optional for states. After several years of data emerging from both expansion and non-expansion states we're finding out how well it's working to keep people healthy.
Specifically, "States that expanded coverage to low-income adults under the Affordable Care Act saw a 3.5% reduction in annual 'ambulatory-care sensitive' condition discharge rates, and a 3.1% drop in inpatient days in 2014 and 2015." That means there were fewer hospital admissions in expansion states, shorter hospital stays, and lower hospital costs. The states that expanded saw a drop of 3% in hospital costs for health conditions that can be treated in out-patient settings, especially "chronic respiratory conditions, diabetes-related complications, and bacterial pneumonia."
That also means healthier people and lower hospital costs, which is good. "This study is another piece of evidence that Medicaid expansion gets people more care, so people with chronic conditions can stay out of the hospital," said Dr. Benjamin Sommers, a health policy professor at Harvard University. "We can probably stop arguing about whether expanding Medicaid helps people. It's pretty clear it does."
But by now we all know that for Republicans, it's not about helping people. Unless it's a loved one or a potential campaign donor, they don't care and they don't believe people are deserving of help. The good news is that voters are on to them. The 2018 and 2019 elections made it very clear that voters think Medicaid expansion and health care are worth fighting for.