States and Medicaid Expansion

Posted on September 6, 2013 by admin

• Medicaid expansion gap could leave poor shortchanged, By Kelly Kennedy, September 5, 2013, USA Today: “The decision of some states not to expand Medicaid means that the nation’s poorest — those the Affordable Care Act would have helped the most — may not receive any help at all. That’s because the 2010 law was written to provide Medicaid coverage for those making less than 100% of the federal poverty level, $23,550 for a family of four, in all 50 states. Because those Americans were to get Medicaid coverage, they were not made eligible for the federal tax subsidies that would help them pay for health insurance they will be required to buy…”
• Michigan House gives final approval to Medicaid expansion, sending bill to Gov. Rick Snyder, By Jonathan Oosting, September 3, 2013, Mlive: “Michigan is poised to become the 25th state to move forward with Medicaid expansion under the federal Affordable Care Act — and just the third state led by a Republican governor and Legislature to do so…”
• Kentucky Medicaid expansion, healthcare exchanges proceed with judge’s approval, By Tom Loftus, September 3, 2013, Louisville Courier-Journal: “The Beshear administration’s plans to expand Medicaid and begin enrollment in Kentucky’s new health care exchange survived their first court challenge Tuesday. In separate rulings, Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd upheld both decisions by Gov. Steve Beshear intended to expand access to health care to 640,000 uninsured Kentuckians under the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare…”
• Thousands of Hoosiers will keep coverage with deal to extend Healthy Indiana Plan, By Maureen Groppe and John Russell, September 3, 2013, Indianapolis Star: “President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul envisioned that about half of Indiana’s uninsured residents would get coverage through an expansion of Medicaid, the jointly run federal and state health program for the poor. A compromise that GOP Gov. Mike Pence reached with the Obama administration Tuesday would let tens of thousands of low-income Hoosiers continue to get health care next year through an alternative Medicaid program that includes cost sharing and fewer benefits. And the deal leaves up in the air whether Indiana will see a full expansion of Medicaid to cover hundreds of thousands of poor, uninsured Hoosiers…”
• Ballot is ‘Plan B’ for expanding Medicaid, By Catherine Candisky, September 5, 2013, Columbus Dispatch: “If lawmakers don’t approve Gov. John Kasich’s plan to expand Medicaid, voters could decide whether to give tax-funded health coverage to an additional 275,000 poor Ohioans. A coalition of health-care providers, unions, businesses, religious organizations and other advocates for the uninsured launched a campaign yesterday that could put the plan on the November 2014 statewide ballot…”