Mortality Drop Seen to Follow ’06 Health Law

BOSTON — The death rate in Massachusetts dropped significantly after it adopted mandatory health care coverage in 2006, a study released Monday found, offering evidence that the country’s first experiment with universal coverage — and the model for crucial parts of President Obama’s health care law — has saved lives, health economists say.

The study tallied deaths in Massachusetts from 2001 to 2010 and found that the mortality rate — the number of deaths per 100,000 people — fell by about 3 percent in the four years after the law went into effect. The decline was steepest in counties with the highest proportions of poor and previously uninsured people. In contrast, the mortality rate in a control group of counties similar to Massachusetts in other states was largely unchanged.

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There will be more evidence, as well, in coming years. The Affordable Care Act is its own sweeping experiment, as only about half the states expanded Medicaid.

“It’s very unfortunate for people living in states not expanding Medicaid,” said Richard Kronick, a health policy official at the Department of Health and Human Services, “but from the point of view of research, it’s a gold mine.”


http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/06/health/death-rate-fell-in-massachusetts-after-health-care-overhaul.html?emc=edit_th_20140506&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=63085245