Medicaid Expansion Praised By Safety Net Health Plans

Main Category: Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP
Article Date: 30 Oct 2009 - 4:00 PDT

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The Association for Community Affiliated Plans (ACAP) praised House leaders for including an additional expansion of Medicaid in the health reform bill they unveiled today, calling it a "cost-effective step that will provide better and more affordable care for up to five million more Americans who need help the most."

"Making more people eligible for Medicaid not only saves money, but it will also provide more Americans with better coverage and the services they need," said Margaret A. Murray, Chief Executive Officer of ACAP. "It's good for low-income Americans and taxpayers, and it makes the overall health reform bill stronger. We urge the full House to support this legislation."

The legislation unveiled today by Speaker Nancy Pelosi would expand Medicaid to cover everyone up to 150 percent of the federal poverty level, or $16,245 for an individual, up from the 133 percent called for by House and Senate committee bills. The change was made because it is less costly to cover people under Medicaid than subsidizing private insurance premiums.

Expanding Medicaid to cover everyone below 133 percent of the federal poverty line would cover up to 12 million Americans who are now uninsured. ACAP said raising the income threshold to 150 percent of the poverty line could give Medicaid coverage to an additional 4-5 million Americans.

"This expansion is a good cost-saving move," Murray stressed, "but it is equally important to recognize that it will also give the new beneficiaries access to more comprehensive care and services in a way that's far more affordable than private insurance. Medicaid has better experience meeting the needs of historically underserved populations, and it does so without the high deductibles and copayments that lower-income Americans can't afford."

Murray also praised House leaders for recognizing the reality of tight state budgets by having the federal government cover the full cost of the Medicaid expansion in the initial years, and nearly all of it in subsequent years.

ACAP was among eight organizations - representing doctors, health centers, county governments, and Medicaid-focused health plans - that wrote House Democrats last week saying they "strongly support an expansion of Medicaid to the maximum extent possible."

Source
The Association for Community Affiliated Plans