ACA and Medicaid Expansion

Posted on January 24, 2014 by admin

• Momentum builds for Medicaid expansion in states, By Kelly Kennedy, January 23, 2014, USA Today: “A series of new reports and a push by a new governor show the continued pressure to expand Medicaid in the 25 states that have so far resisted changes in the federal-state program to provide health care to low-income Americans. States that opposed expansion because they believed they could not afford it are also finding that their Medicaid rolls are growing anyway, as the opening of the federal health care exchanges Oct. 1 started a new surge of enrollment for those eligible for coverage under the current program. A report released Wednesday by the Department of Health and Human Services showed that 6.3 million people have joined Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program since Oct. 1…”
• Medicaid expansion is causing health care disparities among low-income women, report says, By Angela Townsend, January 23, 2014, Cleveland Plain Dealer: “A report released this week by the National Women’s Law Center asserts the emergence of a gap in health care between low-income women with and without health insurance in the wake states deciding whether or not to expand Medicaid coverage. Low-income women without insurance who live in one of the 25 states without expanded coverage are significantly less likely to get basic health care and preventive services such as mammograms and HIV testing than low-income women with public or private health insurance, according to the report…”
• Little-known aspect of Medicaid now causing people to avoid coverage, By Sandhya Somashekhar, January 23, 2014, Washington Post: “Add this to the scary but improbable things people are hearing could happen because of the new federal health-care law: After you die, the state could come after your house. The concern arises from a long-standing but little-known aspect of Medicaid, the state-federal program that provides health coverage to millions of low-income Americans. In certain cases, a state can recoup its medical costs by putting a claim on a deceased person’s assets. This is not an issue for people buying private coverage on online marketplaces. And experts say it is unlikely that the millions of people in more than two dozen states becoming eligible for Medicaid under the program’s expansion will be affected by this rule. But the fear that the government could one day seize their homes is deterring some people from signing up…”