Republican states that expanded Medicaid want it kept

Many Republicans probably voted for the measure knowing it would be vetoed, since no one wanted the consequences of eliminating 20 million Americans from insurance coverage, now about equally split between those enrolled on the exchanges and under Medicaid.

Brian Tabor, executive vice president of the Indiana Hospital Association, said the election results have him anxious about future of Medicaid and Obamacare. “If there is not enough money, unfortunately the state is going to have to make some hard decisions”. It is likely that the “red” states will use this flexibility to implement more conservative measures into their Medicaid programs, such as a work requirement or the ability to exclude individuals who do not pay their premiums timely or who do not pay into a health savings account.

Pence took the federal money but won the Obama administration’s approval to add features that set IN apart from other expansion states. Now, under Virignia’s existing Medicaid program, the state pays 50 percent of the cost for recipients, while the federal government pays the remaining 50 percent.

Alabama in its agreement with the federal government, promised to adequately fund Medicaid to make sure patients weren’t being shortchanged with the switch to managed care.

In 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the ACA, but said expanded Medicaid would be optional for each state. “We’re getting less for more”, Grams said. Now, as an early Donald Trump supporter who has his ear, Brewer hopes one of the pillars of President Barack Obama’s health care law can be saved as Trump pushes to dump much of the overhaul. Major provisions that could potentially be repealed include the individual mandate requiring that everyone buy health insurance, the mandate requiring employers to offer insurance, the federal subsidies that make insurance affordable for low-income families, the expansion of Medicaid to new groups of people and new taxes on individuals, employers and medical device companies.

With Medicaid expansion came sharp cuts to charity care – nearly half of the pre-expansion amount – in the state over the past few years. ObamaCare allowed states to expand the category of those eligible to sign up for Medicaid, with the federal government covering the tab.

Since the election, officials and consultants have been trying to divine what might happen with little success, said Joe Martin, director of reimbursement at AnMed Health in Anderson.

Nonetheless, she said that repealing and replacing Obamacare will be the “LaBrea Tar Pits” for Republicans because it can’t be done without significant damage to Medicare, where the parts of the law created to reduce the cost of health care are embedded. The Republicans could try to get some Democrats to agree to abolish the individual mandate and simultaneously to modify Obamacare’s protections for people with pre-existing conditions so that people would not have an incentive to wait until they get sick to buy insurance.

“All I’ve been telling people is this is the law right now and we are following the law as is”, he told The Enterprise.

Repeal could result in less federal funding.

“As far as making drastic changes to comply with unforeseen changes in the ACA, I don’t know that we can do it this session”, Buttrey says.

Terri Anderson, a resident of Riverside, fears losing her health insurance, saying she couldn’t afford medical care without it.

Changes are expected to most affect people covered by Medicaid through the ACA.

With out-of-pocket costs and deductibles also on the rise, chances are millennials will still have to spend thousands of dollars on an Affordable Care Act plan. “If the law changes, we’ll have to go by whatever the new laws are in the future”.

Part of the ACA that consumers, politicians and policymakers have continued to support includes coverage for pre-existing conditions, an aspect Trump has said he would be open to keeping in a new health-care law. “They’re the least likely to come in, but they’re going to save time and going to save money if they do”. They also want states to have more autonomy with their Medicaid programs and believe enrollees should become more self-sufficient.

“A lot of my friends don’t have health care”, said Jessica Levin, 25, of Marlton.

No way. House Speaker Paul Ryan and Budget Committee Chairman Tom Price want Medicare “reform” this spring.

Being penalized for not being insured is absurd.

Like other MA experts, Seltz said the biggest question will be how the state will maintain coverage for residents if federal funding dries up.