North Kent News

It appears that having health coverage helps keep people at work and school. Based on the findings of a study conducted by the researchers of the University of Michigan’s Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation, providing health care to Michigan’s financially challenged residents led to an increase in people going to work and school.

The University of Michigan’s Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation is responsible for monitoring Healthy Michigan, a Medicaid expansion that became possible through the Affordable Care Act. The university surveyed 3,100 participants of Healthy Michigan coverage upon joining and a year later to discover that an increased 6% of participants reported working or going to school than before, according to Bridge Magazine.

“They feel that, since they got the coverage, their health improved and they were able to do a better job at work or be better able to look for a job,” Dr. Renuka Tipirneni, the study’s lead author, told Bridge.

The study was published earlier this month.