Trending News Today: Midterm Election Votes Pave Way for More Medicaid Expansion

Voters in Idaho, Nebraska, and Utah approved ballot initiatives to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Kaiser Health News reported. According to the article, democratic governor victories in Kansas and Wisconsin will also increase the chances of Medicaid expansion in those states. Following the vote, approximately 500,000 uninsured adults in these states are estimated to gain Medicaid coverage under the ACA, the article reported.

A new study indicates that adolescents who experimented with e-cigarettes may end up smoking traditional cigarettes just as much as those who never tried vaping, Reuters reported. According to the article, the researchers surveyed 6258 high schoolers about their vaping and smoking usage, of whom 14% to 17% had used traditional cigarettes and 23% to 29% had tried e-cigarettes. One year later, 7% of teens who had never tried cigarettes had started smoking traditional combustible cigarettes and 21% of teens who had been using e-cigarettes had switched to traditional cigarettes, the article reported.

A recent study found that more American mothers are using cannabis during pregnancy, even as alcohol and tobacco use continues to decline among pregnant women, Reuters reported. According to the article, the researchers analyzed the proportion of pregnant women who used alcohol, tobacco, or cannabis from 2002 to 2016. Overall, the odds that pregnant women would use cannabis rose 3% per year during the study period, with the increases only seen in the first trimester, the article reported.