Louisiana's Medicaid expansion program has helped create or support nearly 19,200 jobs across the state and $178 million in state and local taxes.
That's according to an economic analysis done by three LSU professors hired by the state health department to look at the program during the 2016-17 budget year.
The study determined that the infusion of $1.8 billion in federal spending on health care through the Medicaid expansion had a $3.5 billion economic impact in Louisiana.
Gov. John Bel Edwards championed the Medicaid expansion and moved to enact it as soon as he took office more than two years ago.
More than 470,000 people have enrolled in the government-financed coverage for the working poor and other non-elderly adults, which began July 1, 2016.