Will 'expansion' states be overrun?

• Position: ObamaCare - Cross-state migration due to Medicaid expansion - Brief article

Amidst the patchwork nature of Medicaid expansion in the U.S. under the Patient Protection and Afford able Care Act, some have worried that low-income adults in states without expanded coverage might move to states that have chosen to expand--thus placing a financial burden on those states, but a study by the Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Mass., finds little evidence of such potential cross-state migration.

"Though many states have not opted in to the ACA Medicaid expansion, they may decide to do so in the future. Our study can inform these decisions by showing what happened when slates implemented similar public insurance expansions in the past. We found no evidence that these states became so-called 'welfare magnets,' attracting low-income individuals from other states," points out lead author Aaron Schwarlz, a doctoral candidate in health policy.

Although ObamaCare is expanding Medicaid in 2014 to millions of low-income adults, a June 2012 Supreme Court ruling gave states the...