States and Medicaid Expansion

Posted on March 7, 2013 by admin

• Session opens with Medicaid expansion in doubt, By Gary Fineout and James L. Rosica (AP), March 5, 2013, Miami Herald: “A bid to cover roughly 1 million Floridians by expanding the state Medicaid program is in doubt after one of the state’s top legislative leaders called it a social experiment ‘destined for failure.’ House Speaker Will Weatherford used the opening day of the annual legislative session to denounce the idea of expanding the safety-net health insurance program. Within hours, Senate President Don Gaetz responded by suggesting that the Senate was unlikely to move forward in the face of such strong opposition…”
• House Republicans searching for alternatives to Medicaid, By Tia Mitchell, March 6, 2013, Miami Herald: “Republicans in the Florida House are trying to come up with a plan for the uninsured, something they believe would be better than expanding Medicaid. But flirting with other options could jeopardize billions of federal dollars. And there are no guarantees the Legislature and Gov. Rick Scott will be able to agree on an alternative, or if it would produce better health outcomes for roughly 900,000 of the state’s poorest residents. Rep. Richard Corcoran, chairman of the House committee that voted Monday against expanding Medicaid, has pledged to come up with a solution but admits he doesn’t have a plan or even a clear idea of what direction the state should go…”
• Medicaid focus of attention inside Capitol and out, By Peggy Fikac, March 5, 2013, Houston Chronicle: “More than 1,000 people rallied Tuesday at the Capitol urging Gov. Rick Perry and lawmakers to expand Medicaid, while inside, decision-makers confronted the political nature of the battle as they discussed ways to provide health care coverage to more Texans…”
• GOP lawmakers jump to reject Medicaid expansion, By Robert Gehrke, March 6, 2013, Salt Lake Tribune: “In a surprise move Wednesday, Republicans on a House committee pushed through a bill that would prevent Utah from expanding Medicaid coverage to more than 130,000 low-income Utahns under Obamacare. ‘No one saw this coming,’ said Judi Hilman, executive director of the Utah Health Policy Project, a group that supports the expansion. The bill on the agenda, HB391, would have sought to nullify the Affordable Care Act and carried a warning from legislative lawyers that it was likely unconstitutional…”
• Survey finds majority in state support Medicaid expansion, By Joey Holleman, March 5, 2013, The State: “More than half of older adults in the state disagree with Gov. Nikki Haley’s plan to turn down Medicaid expansion, according to a survey by the AARP. The survey found that 54 percent of the respondents support expanding Medicaid to cover low-income adults. A U.S. Supreme Court decision last summer allowed states to opt out of the Medicaid expansion provision of the federal Affordable Care Act. Haley has pledged not to accept the expansion, saying its an extension of a wasteful federal program…”