States and Medicaid Expansion

Posted on February 1, 2013 by townsend

• Study: Medicaid expansion may save state money, By John Dorschner, January 29, 2013, Miami Herald: “Florida would save money over the next decade — not lose billions as Gov. Rick Scott has argued — by accepting Medicaid expansion under federal healthcare reforms, according to a detailed economic study. Miami-Dade legislators and healthcare industry leaders, getting together on Monday, heard about the report by Georgetown University — the most positive yet on a highly debated provision of what is often called Obamacare…”
• Should Ohio expand Medicaid?, By Lisa Bernard-Kuhn, January 31, 2013, Cincinnati Enquirer: “Ohio could be among a growing contingent of Republican-led states leaning toward expanding Medicaid coverage for hundreds of thousands of low-income residents. In an exclusive interview with The Enquirer this week, Gov. John Kasich hinted he would call for expanding the joint federal-state health care program for the poor and disabled in his pending two-year budget proposal, which is due Monday. Doing so would bring billions of dollars to the state and extend Medicaid coverage to thousands of low-income people currently left out. But it’s a decision rife with political controversy. The expansion could result in one of every four Ohioans being on Medicaid…”
• Budget drama: Will Corbett give in on Medicaid expansion?, By David Wenner, February 1, 2013, Patriot-News: “When the new state budget comes out Tuesday, eyes of many Democrats and advocates for affordable health care will quickly seek out an item that, if present, will be historic and huge. But they might find nothing. The object of their search will be budgetary signs that Gov. Tom Corbett intends to carry out the Medicaid expansion called for in the Affordable Care Act. Corbett, like many Republicans, has been hostile to the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. Yet some governors, including a few Republicans, have decided the Medicaid expansion amounts to a deal that’s too good to refuse…”
• Medicaid plan called one of Nevada government’s biggest expansions, By Sean Whaley, January 30, 2013, Las Vegas Review-Journal: “Nevadans could soon see one of the biggest expansions of state government in modern history as Medicaid, a program that provides health care coverage to low-income residents, moves to cover more than 170,000 new enrollees by 2015. The projected increase from 319,827 Medicaid recipients at the end of the current budget on June 30, 2013, to 490,103 on June 30, 2015, represents a 53 percent increase over two years. Total enrollment would represent nearly 18 percent of the state’s entire population…”
• Report: Medicaid expansion will save N.C. money, Associated Press, February 1, 2013, Virginian-Pilot: “North Carolina should expand Medicaid coverage under President Barack Obama’s federal health care overhaul because it would provide insurance coverage to 500,000 residents — most of whom would remain uninsured without the expansion, a nonpartisan policy group said Friday…”