Minnesota Inches Closer To Medicaid Expansion
Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton is expected to sign into law a bill that will expand the state's Medicaid program under the auspices of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
The bill, which passed the state Senate last week by a comfortable 45-22 margin, will move about 35,000 Minnesotans out of the state-operated MinnesotaCare program and into Medicaid. It will also relax income restrictions against childless adults, permitting anyone earning that than $15,414 per year to enroll.
Altogether, about 80,000 Minnesotans are expected to be moved into Medicaid as a result of the law's anticipated passage. Under the ACA, the federal government will pay the full cost of Medicaid expansion for the first three years, and pick up 90% of the cost in the years following. The Medicaid rolls are expected to expand starting in 2014.
Dayton, a Democrat, has expressed support for the ACA and the expansion of Medicaid. It has also received the support of Michigan Gov. Mike Snyder and Ohio Gov. John Kasich, despite the latter encountering strong resistance from the Republican-controlled Legislature.
However, GOP governors in other Midwest states have been less sanguine. Both Indiana Gov. Mike Pence and Scott Walker of Wisconsin have said they would not allow Medicaid to expand during their tenures.
Indeed, Walker has come under fire from policymakers for a recent proposal to cut the current Medicaid income eligibility from 200% of the Federal poverty to just 100%, and encouraging those who would be disenrolled to purchase insurance on the state's exchange. He also proposed lifting an enrollment cap in Medicaid for childless adults.
The plan was criticized by Robert Laszewski, president of Health Policy and Strategy Associates in Alexandria, Va. as “crazy policy,” the Associated Press reported. According to Laszewski, “these exchange plans were never designed for Medicaid-eligible people. They're designed for middle-class people who can afford deductibles and co-pays.” And Bobby Peterson, head of ABC for Health, a public interest law firm in Madison, Wis. noted that few enrollees earning between 101% of 200% of the Federal Poverty Level could afford even subsidized premiums in the exchange, which would be run by the federal government.
Under that scenario, “everybody's a loser,” Peterson said.
