Rural Implications of Medicaid Expansion under the Affordable Care Act

In this brief, researchers from the Maine Rural Health Research Center present findings from a SHARE-funded evaluation of the rural implications of Medicaid expansion under the ACA. The authors examine the following issues: the extent to which prior public health insurance expansions have covered rural populations; whether rural residents who are expected to be newly eligible for Medicaid in 2014 differ from their urban counterparts; the extent to which rural individuals might differentially benefit from the ACA Medicaid expansion in light of the expansion becoming optional; and whether rural enrollees are likely to have adequate access to primary care.