Dive Brief:
- Expanded Medicaid coverage in Alaska goes into effect Tuesday after the state Supreme Court denied a bid from lawmakers Monday to block the action.
- Last month, Gov. Bill Walker announced he would expand the coverage even though it was opposed by the state legislature, causing lawmakers to go to court.
- Anchorage Superior Court Judge Frank Pfiffner denied that bid Friday and the state Supreme Court followed suit Monday.
Dive Insight:
Walker says the action will provide healthcare access to 20,000 Alaskans. Governors in several other states have taken similar actions over the objections of their legislatures, and that process seems fairly entrenched now after suriving court challenges.
According to The Washington Post, Pfiffner said legislators had not proved that Medicaid program expansion would cause “irreparable harm” or that Walker had overstepped his authority.
Pfiffner claimed the expansion will not cost the state “one single dime…for Medicaid expansion for fiscal year 2016,” reports the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner.