Medicaid expansion may help prevent kidney failure, improve access to kidney-related care

States with broader Medicaid coverage have lower incidences of kidney failure and smaller insurance-related gaps in access to kidney disease care. Those are the findings of a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (JASN). The results point to the potential benefits of Medicaid expansion on chronic disease prevention and care.Chronic disease care is a major source of rising health care expenditures, and access to care for uninsured individuals with a chronic disease has eroded over the last decade.