States and Medicaid Expansion

Posted on August 13, 2012 by townsend

• Medicaid: Flood of funds awaits OK in Georgia, By Carrie Teegardin and Misty Williams, August 12, 2012, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “Gov. Nathan Deal is facing a $40 billion dilemma. The federal health care law would inject that gigantic sum into Georgia’s health care economy over 10 years by adding more than 650,000 low-income Georgians to the Medicaid program. Deal, a strong opponent of the law, is wary of the proposition. The state projects that Georgia’s share of the law’s $40 billion cost for a fully expanded Medicaid program would reach $4.5 billion over a decade, a sum the governor fears would break a state budget already stretched by health costs. From a political perspective, Deal could safely turn down the expansion since the law is wildly unpopular among Republicans. In fact, Republican governors in at least five states have already announced they will do just that…”
• Medicaid: Projection at issue, By Carrie Teegardin, August 12, 2012, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “Budget gurus and health officials in every state are trying to project the costs and benefits of the Affordable Care Act. Georgia is no exception. As state officials try to decide whether Georgia will agree to expand its Medicaid program, putting a price tag on that decision has been the first order of business. Some experts who have reviewed the numbers say the state’s projections may overstate the likely costs. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reviewed the details of the state’s latest projections, obtained through the Georgia Open Records Act…”
• Medicaid: Block grants preferred by some states, By Misty Williams, August 12, 2012, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “While five Republican governors have flatly refused to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, another five have said there’s one way the expansion could work. Those governors want ‘block grants,’ which limit the amount of federal dollars states get to one lump sum but have fewer rules on how it must be spent. Officials are then free to figure out what works best in their states. Under the current system, federal funding is open ended – increasing if enrollment or health care costs go up – but comes with a lot more instructions…”