States and Medicaid Expansion

Posted on July 16, 2012 by townsend

• Medicaid estimate grows by $365M, By Catherine Candisky, July 15, 2012, Columbus Dispatch: “Gov. John Kasich says he doesn’t know if the state can afford adding more poor, uninsured Ohioans to Medicaid rolls as called for in President Barack Obama’s health-care law. Even if Ohio opts out of expanding Medicaid, as the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last month states could do, the Kasich administration projects nearly 400,000 Ohioans already eligible will sign up, costing taxpayers $940 million in 2014 and 2015. That price tag cited by Kasich, a staunch opponent of Obama’s health-care law, is 63 percent ($365 million) higher than projections his administration produced a little more than a year ago…”
• Many governors are still unsure about Medicaid expansion, By Michael Cooper, July 14, 2012, New York Times: “How well the new health care law succeeds in covering millions of the poorest Americans will depend largely on undecided governors of both parties, who gathered here this weekend and spoke of the challenges of weighing the law’s costs and benefits in a highly charged political atmosphere and a time of fiscal uncertainty. The Supreme Court’s ruling last month that the states should have the choice of whether to expand their Medicaid programs has set the stage for a frenzied year and a half in which governors will have to analyze their options, devise plans, negotiate with the federal government and successfully navigate the thorny statehouse politics that often accompany any big change. Much of the law is set to take effect in 2014, when many governors will be facing re-election…”
• Medicaid expansion’s costs to states leaves governors undecided, By William Selway and Esmé E. Deprez, July 16, 2012, Businessweek: “Governors who haven’t decided whether to expand Medicaid to more low-income Americans, a key provision of President Barack Obama’s health-care overhaul, said the program may wring too much money from their states. Republican governors said at a conference in Williamsburg, Virginia, over the weekend that they will wait to see whether their party’s presumptive presidential nominee, Mitt Romney, wins election in November and overturns the health-care law. Democrats who haven’t taken a position said they’re weighing the costs and benefits. The majority of U.S. governors haven’t committed to expanding Medicaid, an option created by a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last month. About 17 million Americans would be eligible to receive Medicaid benefits under the expansion, with costs mostly paid by the federal government…”
• Michigan health care expansion meets GOP resistance, By Kathy Barks Hoffman (AP), July 16, 2012, Detroit News: “Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder and his fellow Republicans could find themselves knee-deep in health care issues Wednesday when lawmakers briefly return after a five-week break. Snyder needs to get reluctant House Republicans on board with his efforts to create an online site where individuals and small businesses can comparison shop for private health insurance. He’ll also likely be comparing notes with GOP legislative leaders over whether it will be a good idea in 2014 to extend Medicaid to around 500,000 more low-income residents with the help of $2 billion annually in federal aid. Both the health insurance exchange and the Medicaid expansion are required under the Affordable Care Act recently upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court…”