Rates of suicide among adults in the U.S. decreased after the 2014 Medicaid expansion, a study published June 27 in JAMA Network Open found.
The option of Medicaid expansion for states was included in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which made healthcare more accessible to low-income adults.
Researchers used data from the National Center for Health Statistics on rates of suicide among adults in the U.S. among adults 20-64 years old between January 2000 and December 2018. Data showed a total of 553,912 deaths by suicide were recorded in that time period.
In the 39 states that adopted the Medicaid expansion in or after 2014, the rate of deaths by suicide was approximately 16.5 per 100,000 individuals, while the rate in the 11 states that didn't adopt the expansion was 19.77 per 100,000 individuals.