A new study has found that number of cases of diabetes identified among poor Americans have increased in the states that expanded their Medicaid programs under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The numbers have not surged in states that did not embrace ACA, as per the study.

The study also suggested that the health care law could be helping many people get earlier treatment for diseases that are among the country’s costliest medical conditions.

According to reports, one in ten people in the United States have diabetes, and about one third of the diabetes cases have not been diagnosed. According to medical experts, it is important to treat the disease as it could cause heart attacks, blindness, kidney failure and foot amputations if not treated at time.

According to report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the disease accounts for $176 billion in medical costs annually. Poor people are disproportionately affected. By expanding access to Medicaid, the health care law is focused on bringing many of the poor Americans into the medial system.

The new study was conducted by medical testing company Quest Diagnostics, where researchers examined laboratory test results from all states in the company’s database over two six-month periods. The researchers found that the states that expanded Medicaid, the rate of diabetes patients identified surged by 23%, o 18,020 in the first six months of 2014, from 14,625 in the same period in 2013. According to the study, the diagnoses have risen by just 0.4%, from 11,612 to 11,653, in the states that did not expand their Medicaid programs.

The researchers found that identified 434,288 people who were having diabetes. The new figures were equal to about a quarter of all new American cases in a year, as per recent federal data.