Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Nebraska Senate Shelves Medicaid Expansion For Fourth Year Straight
The Legislature on Tuesday shelved health care reform legislation designed to provide coverage for the working poor and other needy Nebraskans after 90 minutes of often impassioned debate. ... This year's proposal would have established a three-year pilot project that could have accessed $1.8 billion in federal funding matched by a $63 million appropriation from a health care cash fund without any expenditure from the state tax-supported general fund. Opponents of the measure argued that state funding for the program is unsustainable and would crowd out other state priorities. (Walton, 3/29)
Sen. John McCollister of Omaha told colleagues during legislative debate his bill, LB 1032, addressed many of the concerns expressed in past debates about Medicaid expansion. 鈥淚n a wider application of the Golden Rule, how can we turn our backs on 97,000 fellow Nebraskans? More simply put, how can we turn our backs on our neighbors when the remedy is so easy?鈥 McCollister asked. (Martin, 3/29)
Supporters described the proposal as the nation's most conservative approach to covering the so-called Medicaid gap population, which exists because tax subsidies are only available to people with household incomes between 100 percent and 400 percent of the federal poverty level. But opponents, including Gov. Pete Ricketts, had raised concerns about the bill's long-term costs. (Schulte, 3/29)
An advocate for people with disabilities, like herself, Lynn Redding watched as lawmakers voted 28 to 20 to kill the proposal. "I'm very angry," she said. "I don't know what it's going to take to get Nebraska to have health insurance for people to get health insurance so they don't die." Sen. John McCollister called it the most conservative proposal yet, using federal funds to allow people to buy private insurance. They had support of some in the business community, and some Republicans. Redding said, "We had people signed on this year that had never signed on, so it's a big deal. This was going to be the opportunity of a lifetime for Nebraska." (White, 3/29)
