States and Medicaid Expansion

Posted on March 31, 2017 by admin

• In health bill’s defeat, Medicaid comes of age, By Kate Zernike, Abby Goodnough and Pam Belluck, March 27, 2017, New York Times: “When it was created more than a half century ago, Medicaid almost escaped notice. Front-page stories hailed the bigger, more controversial part of the law that President Lyndon B. Johnson signed that July day in 1965 — health insurance for elderly people, or Medicare, which the American Medical Association had bitterly denounced as socialized medicine. The New York Times did not even mention Medicaid, conceived as a small program to cover poor people’s medical bills. But over the past five decades, Medicaid has surpassed Medicare in the number of Americans it covers. It has grown gradually into a behemoth that provides for the medical needs of one in five Americans — 74 million people — starting for many in the womb, and for others, ending only when they go to their graves…”
• Medicaid expansion becomes trendy with death of GOP health bill, By Maggie Fox, March 31, 2017, NBC News: “All of a sudden, Medicaid is trendy again. The governor of Kansas vetoed a bill on Thursday that would have expanded Medicaid in his state. But the legislature is reserving the option of trying to override the veto and Virginia and North Carolina are moving toward expansion. Several other states are considering it.  It’s a fast turnaround made by states that had resolutely resisted taking part on a major plank of the 2010 Affordable Care Act — the expansion of Medicaid to cover more people…”
• The states where Obamacare’s footprint might get even bigger, By Russell Berman, March 29, 2017, The Atlantic: “Now that the Affordable Care Act has survived its most serious threat in Congress, the law’s footprint across the country might grow even larger in the months ahead. Several states that initially opted out of Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion are now reconsidering their decision as a result of last year’s elections and as Republicans come under new pressure to accept the billions in federal dollars available under the law. The most aggressive push is coming in deep-red Kansas, where the Republican-controlled Senate on Tuesday sent Governor Sam Brownback legislation that could expand the state’s version of Medicaid to as many as 150,000 new enrollees…”
• Brownback vetoes Medicaid expansion; House pauses override debate, By Jonathan Shorman, March 30, 2017, Wichita Eagle: “The fate of Medicaid expansion in Kansas remains undecided – at least until Monday – as supporters of expansion scramble to find votes to override Gov. Sam Brownback’s veto. Brownback vetoed the proposal Thursday morning, one day after receiving it. ‘The cost of expanding Medicaid under ObamaCare is irresponsible and unsustainable,’ he said in his veto message…”
• Arkansas lawmakers send Medicaid expansion to governor, By John Lyon, March 31, 2017, Times Record: “The House on Thursday approved and sent to the governor’s desk a bill that will fund Arkansas’ Medicaid expansion program for another year. House members voted 77-13 to approve Senate Bill 196 by the Joint Budget Committee, a bill to appropriate $8.3 billion in federal and state Medicaid money for traditional Medicaid and the Medicaid expansion program…”
• Georgia to explore Medicaid changes after GOP health plan’s implosion, By Greg Bluestein, March 27, 2017, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “Gov. Nathan Deal said Monday his administration is exploring changes to Georgia’s Medicaid program after a sweeping Republican overhaul of the Affordable Care Act was scuttled in a stunning rebuke to Donald Trump and Congressional leaders. The Republican governor said there are limits to what the state can request ‘as long as mandates under the basic Obamacare legislation stand in place.’ But he said the state would review healthcare options that could include changes to ‘mandated minimum coverage’ provisions that require the state Medicaid program to cover a range of health services to recipients…”