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New findings about low-income adults with behavioral health conditions, mental health and substance use disorders, suggest importance of continuous coverage.
Expanding Medicaid to more low-income adults helped many of them feel healthier, and do a better job at work or a job search, in just one year after they got their new health coverage, a University of Michigan study finds.
But people with behavioral health conditions, including mental health disorders such as depression or addiction to alcohol or drugs, got an especially big boost in many health and work-related measures, the study shows. Half of the sample of Medicaid enrollees in the study had at least one such condition.
As more states embark on new Medicaid expansions, and others change eligibility for existing Medicaid expansion programs, the researchers say those with behavioral health conditions may have the most to gain or lose.
In a new paper in the journal Psychiatric Services, a team from the U-M Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation documents the results from a survey of a representative sample of more than 4,000 adults at or near the poverty level who had coverage under the Healthy Michigan Plan — Michigan’s Medicaid expansion program — for at least one year.
As a group, enrollees with behavioral health conditions were more likely to also have chronic physical illnesses, poor overall health and lower incomes, and were more likely to be unemployed, than those without.
51% of those with behavioral health conditions said their physical health had improved in their first year of coverage, and 45% said their mental health had improved, compared with 45% and 32% of those without behavioral health conditions.
