What do we know about Medicaid and work? Evidence from Michigan

Michigan’s work requirement for Medicaid expansion enrollees was in effect from January to March 2020 before it was halted by a federal court. This new policy brief highlights data based on surveys and interviews with enrollees and analysis of statewide employment data from 2016–2018 to understand the impact of Medicaid on enrollees’ health and employment. The bottom line: Medicaid coverage itself is associated with positive employment outcomes for enrollees, but health barriers to work remain for some.

Connect with IHPI on Bluesky

IHPI is now on Bluesky (@um-ihpi.bsky.social), adding to our longstanding social media presence on LinkedIn, X, and YouTube, to share the important work and insights of our 760+ health services researchers.  

Telehealth did not increase total Medicare visits and post-visit costs were lower

Published as preprints ahead of peer review because of their timely nature, two studies led by Chad Ellimoottil, M.D., M.S., associate professor of urology, show that widespread use of telehealth has not driven up the total number of visits to diagnose or manage health conditions, and that post-visit total costs were lower for patients who started with a telehealth visit.  

NATIONAL POLL ON HEALTHY AGING

Beyond the forecast: Experiences with extreme weather and concerns about climate and health

Nearly 3 out of every 4 older Americans have experienced at least one extreme weather event in the last two years, according to the U-M National Poll on Healthy Aging. And living through such an event appears to make a big difference in how they view the potential impact of climate change on their health. In all, 70% of people over age 50 who had experienced an extreme weather event in the past two years expressed concern about climate change and their health, compared with 26% of those who had not lived through such an event.

Video: Health impacts of work after age 50

Jeffrey Kullgren, M.D., M.P.H., M.S., director of the U-M National Poll on Healthy Aging, recently joined the Broadcast Retirement Network to discuss recent poll findings on the health impacts of working after age 50.

Medicare reimbursement codes for hernia procedures have small impact on patients

Medicare reimbursement codes for hernia procedures are often tied to disease severity and acuity, and in 2023, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services made significant changes to these coding guidelines tied to the reimbursement for anterior abdominal hernia repair. Dana Telem, M.D., M.P.H., professor of surgery, led a team of researchers to examine the association between hernia coding change and the documented hernia size in a state of Michigan hernia data registry.

Related: Are robotic hernia repairs still in the “learning curve” phase?