Two Times As Many Medicaid Patients Die Within A Month Of Surgery As Privately Insured Patients

From MedlinePlus, "Surgical Outcomes Worse for People on Medicaid: Study: Chronic health conditions, high smoking rates, need for emergency surgeries some possible reasons why" by Robert Preidt:

Compared to patients with private insurance, those covered by Medicaid were more than twice as likely to die within a month of surgery. They also had many more emergency operations and two-thirds more complications after surgery, the study found. Those on Medicaid used 50 percent more hospital resources, had longer hospital stays and ended up back in the hospital more often than those with private insurance.***The findings, published online May 12 in the journal JAMA Surgery, are important because millions of uninsured people will become eligible to enroll in Medicaid programs that 26 states have expanded under the Affordable Care Act, the University of Michigan Medical School researchers said.