Federal health reform will extend Medicaid health coverage to an additional 100,000 Connecticut residents, but a new survey shows they may not have a doctor willing or able to accept their Medicaid coverage.
The national survey of nearly 1,500 family physicians, general practitioners and internists found most of those currently accepting Medicaid patients have limited ability to accept more. State health advocates have been warning of the same problem facing the state.
“The additional capacity they can offer will be limited by the additional hours they can work, and patient wait times for an appointment could increase,” the report said about the doctors who have historically been the most likely to accept new Medicaid patients. “Other [doctors] will also be needed to ensure access to primary care as millions of adults gain Medicaid eligibility beginning in 2014.”
Jacqueline was CT Mirror’s Education and Housing Reporter, and an original member of the CT Mirror staff, joining shortly before our January 2010 launch. Her awards include the best-of-show Theodore A. Driscoll Investigative Award from the Connecticut Society of Professional Journalists in 2019 for reporting on inadequate inmate health care, first-place for investigative reporting from the New England Newspaper and Press Association in 2020 for reporting on housing segregation, and two first-place awards from the National Education Writers Association in 2012. She was selected for a prestigious, year-long Propublica Local Reporting Network grant in 2019, exploring a range of affordable and low-income housing issues. Before joining CT Mirror, Jacqueline was a reporter, online editor and website developer for The Washington Post Co.’s Maryland newspaper chains. Jacqueline received an undergraduate degree in journalism from Bowling Green State University and a master’s in public policy from Trinity College.
