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The 12 States with the Highest Medicaid Enrollment Jumps

The Kaiser Family Foundation earlier this month released its calculations of the impact of the ACA on Medicaid and CHIP enrollment in the 50 states. The data takes a snapshot of pre-Obamacare Medicaid enrollment and post-Obamacare enrollment.

Medicaid

Open enrollment for health insurance through the Affordable Care Act’s health exchanges came to an end over the weekend (UPDATE: The Obama Administration has extended the deadline to Feb. 22 due to technical glitches with healthcare.gov). While enrollment numbers for the latest marketplace policies are not yet available, the impact of the health law can be seen in other data.

The Kaiser Family Foundation earlier this month released its calculations of the impact of the ACA on Medicaid and CHIP enrollment in the 50 states. So far, 28 states and the District of Columbia have agreed to expand their Medicaid programs.

The data takes a snapshot of pre-Obamacare Medicaid enrollment and post-Obamacare enrollment. Pre-ACA numbers were based on averages from July through September 2013. Post-ACA numbers were from March through November 2014.

Nationally, about 57.8 million Americans were on Medicaid or CHIP in 2013. By late last year, the number had ballooned to 68.9 million, an increase of about 17.5%. (Kaiser notes that that number is likely low because some states didn’t report data for the months surveyed.)

However, while 17.5% was the overall increase, many states exceeded that rate—by far.

Below is a list of the 12 states that have seen the highest increase in Medicaid enrollment, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation’s analysis.

New Jersey

Pre-ACA Medicaid Enrollment: 1,283,851

Post-ACA Medicaid Enrollment: 1,658,117

Increase: 29.1%

Santa Fe

Pre-ACA Medicaid Enrollment: 572,111

Post-ACA Medicaid Enrollment: 743,058

Increase: 29.9%

Minneapolis

Pre-ACA Medicaid Enrollment: 873,040

Post-ACA Medicaid Enrollment: 1,174,133

Increase: 34.5%

Rhode Island

Pre-ACA Medicaid Enrollment: 190,833

Post-ACA Medicaid Enrollment: 261,559

Increase: 37.1%

Seattle

Pre-ACA Medicaid Enrollment: 1,117,576

Post-ACA Medicaid Enrollment: 1,600,061

Increase: 43.2%

Denver

Pre-ACA Medicaid Enrollment: 783,420

Post-ACA Medicaid Enrollment: 1,147,566

Increase: 46.5%

Wheeling

Pre-ACA Medicaid Enrollment: 354,544

Post-ACA Medicaid Enrollment: 523,254

Increase: 47.6%

Fayetteville

Pre-ACA Medicaid Enrollment: 556,851

Post-ACA Medicaid Enrollment: 825,246

Increase: 48.2%

Portland

Pre-ACA Medicaid Enrollment: 626,356

Post-ACA Medicaid Enrollment: 986,109

Increase: 57.4%

Henderson

Pre-ACA Medicaid Enrollment: 332,560

Post-ACA Medicaid Enrollment: 550,205

Increase: 65.5%

Montpelier

Pre-ACA Medicaid Enrollment: 127,162

Post-ACA Medicaid Enrollment: 214,654

Increase: 68.8%

Bowling Green

Pre-ACA Medicaid Enrollment: 606,805

Post-ACA Medicaid Enrollment: 1,044,953

Increase: 72.2%

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