Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
As Health Law Repeal Bill Comes Into Focus, States Ponder Impact On Medicaid
Medicaid emerged Monday as perhaps the singular issue on which the Republican bid to overhaul the Affordable Care Act will live or die. House Republicans unveiled their official plan to repeal and replace much of the health care law, including dramatic changes to Medicaid, the insurance program that covers low-income Americans and that was expanded under Obamacare. Republicans want to convert the program from the open-ended entitlement it is now to a program with a hard spending limit. (Scott, 3/6)
A new report says Montana stands to lose more than $284 million in healthcare funding if Congress repeals the Medicaid expansion that鈥檚 part of the Affordable Care Act. The Montana Healthcare Foundation commissioned the study. It says that since Montana joined federal Medicaid expansion in 2015, more than 71,000 Montanans have signed on to Medicaid coverage. It says more than 30,000 Montana adults have used that coverage to access preventive care. (Whitney, 3/6)
The clock is ticking for Georgia lawmakers who still hope the state will eventually expand Medicaid to hundreds of thousands of poor residents. The 19 states, including Georgia, that have so far refused to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act would have until Jan. 1, 2020, to sign up new enrollees in the government health program for poor Americans, according to a new GOP health plan unveiled Monday evening. The proposed bill would then 鈥渇reeze鈥 enrollment with lawmakers expecting the number of enrollees to eventually drop off as people鈥檚 incomes change. (Williams, 3/7)
Meanwhile, in Arkansas, the governor is seeking changes in the Medicaid plan 鈥
Arkansas would move about 60,000 people off its hybrid Medicaid expansion and require some participants to work under a series of restrictions the governor proposed Monday, even as the future of the federal health overhaul remains murky. Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson said he鈥檒l ask the federal government to approve the new restrictions by June and hopes to implement them by 2018. More than 300,000 people are on Arkansas鈥 hybrid program, which uses Medicaid funds to purchase private insurance for the poor. The program was created in 2013 as an alternative to expanding Medicaid under the federal health law. (Demillo, 3/6)
Gov. Asa Hutchinson is asking the Trump Administration for approval to make changes to the Arkansas Works Medicaid expansion program. They include lowering the eligibility cap, which would reduce the number of beneficiaries by about 60,000 people, and adding a work requirement for recipients. ... Hutchinson noted during Monday鈥檚 press conference the uncertainty about what will happen on the federal level. More than 300,000 Arkansans are on the hybrid program for low income residents, which started in 2013 and is largely funded by federal dollars. The state began paying five percent of the cost this year, which will grow to 10 percent by 2020. (Hibblen, 3/6)
