Recently the results of the first year of an ongoing study about the effects of providing people with state run healthcare were released. This is run through a lottery that allowed some people who normally wouldn’t be eligible to apply for Medicaid.

Short term findings: Providing health coverage cost the state more. People given coverage accessed preventative care but still used ERs just as often. However, those people took fewer sick days from work and reported greater overall happiness.

It’s a promising start, and I look forward to long term results, when I suspect costs will start to go down.