States and Medicaid Expansion

Posted on August 26, 2016 by admin

• How expanding Medicaid can lower insurance premiums for all, By Margot Sanger-Katz, August 25, 2016, New York Times: “The Obama administration for years has been pleading with states to expand their Medicaid programs and offer health coverage to low-income people. Now it has a further argument in its favor: Expansion of Medicaid could lower insurance prices for everyone else.  A new study published by in-house researchers at the Department of Health and Human Services compared places that have expanded their Medicaid programs as part of Obamacare with neighboring places that have not. They found that, in 2015, insurance in the marketplace for middle-income people cost less in the places that had expanded Medicaid…”
• Controversial parts of Medicaid plan remain, By Tom Loftus and Deborah Yetter, August 25, 2016, Louisville Courier-Journal: “Gov. Matt Bevin’s administration unveiled its long-awaited plan to reshape the state’s Medicaid program Wednesday, and while it restores some benefits Bevin proposed be cut two months ago, it retains the most controversial components of the governor’s approach to overhauling the federal-state health plan for low-income and disabled Kentuckians.  Taking aim at the Medicaid expansion launched by his predecessor, Democrat Steve Beshear, under the federal Affordable Care Act, Bevin, a Republican, has said he wants to create a different program that includes more cost-sharing by consumers, encourages more personal responsibility, and brings the state’s soaring costs of Medicaid under control…”