Dive Brief:
- President Obama has a plan he hopes will lure more states to undergo Medicaid expansion before the end of his term.
- The president plans to propose in his 2017 budget the federal government provide states with full funding for expansion for three years, regardless of when the state undergoes expansion. Currently, funding has only been offered for 2014, 2015, and 2016, which means expansion holds little value at this point for states that have yet to join.
- However, the proposal faces "long odds" of passing the Republican-controlled Congress, reports The Hill.
Dive Insight:
The proposal is another indicator of how far the current administration is willing to go to get the remaining 20 states to opt into expansion. Expansion is intended to cover the roughly 20 million people in those states who fall in the "coverage gap" by earning too much for Medicaid but too little for subsidized ACA health plans.
The proposal would provide a significant incentive to any holdouts on the fence.
"This is a well-crafted proposal that takes into account the fact that states are likely to expand on different timelines," Judith Solomon, vice president for health policy at the non-partisan Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, told USA Today. "As states weigh whether to expand, this is another positive factor in addition to the budget savings and decreased uncompensated care that result from increases in coverage."
However, it isn't likely to sway those concerned about the longer-term ramifications of Medicaid expansion when the time comes for each state to start covering its own share of the cost.
Jimmy Lewis, CEO of the Georgia rural hospital trade group Hometown Health, predicted the proposal wouldn’t persuade Republican Gov. Nathan Deal, a longtime expansion opponent, to expand Medicaid. Just Wednesday, in his "State of the State" address, Deal estimated Medicaid expansion would cost the state far too much money when it had to pick up a share of the cost.
Congress will determine whether the proposal is included in the budget, which may be a tough sell considering Congressional Republicans just sought to veto the ACA.