A new University of Michigan study finds expanded Medicaid coverage is increasing access to family planning and birth control for poor women in Michigan.
Michigan expanded its Medicaid program in 2014 as part of the Affordable Care Act. In all, 32 states and the District of Columbia have expanded Medicaid programs under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
More than 600,000 Michiganders receive health care coverage through the Healthy Michigan program.
Dr. Michelle Moniz is with the Institute for Healthcare Policy & Innovation at the University of Michigan. She says Medicaid expansion has meant more access to birth control for low income women in Michigan.
“Our key finding was that 35.5%, or about one in three women, reported increased access to birth control and family planning services,” says Moniz.
Roughly 200,000 Michigan women of reproductive age are covered under the expanded Medicaid program. But Moniz says some demographic groups benefited more than others.
“Younger women, and those who did not previously have health insurance, and women who previously visited a primary care clinician were more likely to report improved access to family planning services,” says Moniz.
The study appears online in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
