This post was written by Hatchet reporter Lauren Russell.

A public health professor found in a study released earlier this week that low-income patients have more barriers to healthcare access in states that halted Medicaid expansion and passed strict “navigator” laws.

Sara Rosenbaum, a professor of health policy, led a team of researchers throughout the fall that found nine states, including Florida, Maine and Texas, had created more barriers to healthcare enrollment than others. Those states have “navigator” laws that allow only licensed agents share information about insurance plans.

“It’s damaging both for getting any access to coverage and also for the quality of the coverage the people do get,” Rosenbaum said. “Essentially what these states are doing is attempting to place a chill on the kind of help that people can get, as well as just keeping them out of coverage completely by not expanding Medicaid.”

The study surveyed 247 health centers in states that have expanded Medicaid as part of the Affordable Care Act, and 136 health centers in states that have not.

States with navigator laws and no Medicaid expansions had lower healthcare enrollment among poor people.

“The big difference was significantly fewer outreach resources, significantly more limited counseling and an anticipated level of coverage for lower income populations in those states that was significantly lower,” Rosenbaum said.

Rosenbaum and her colleagues are now beginning research to better understand what the enrollments actually look like, such as whether people have the right coverage and if their providers are in-network.