A 2011 University of Virginia study found that surgical Medicaid patients are 13 percent more likely to die than those without insurance. Of the 893,658 surgical operations reviewed between 2003-2007:
Patients on Medicare were 45% more likely to die than those with private insurance; the uninsured were 74% more likely; and Medicaid patients 93% more likely. That is to say, despite the fact that we will soon spend more than $500 billion a year on Medicaid, Medicaid beneficiaries, on average, fared worse than those with no insurance at all.
