Study calls for NC Medicaid expansion
North Carolina could generate jobs and draw down federal funding now leaving the state if policy makers would expand Medicaid, according to a study. But state lawmakers have said they're not ready to consider expanding the program.
Posted — UpdatedThe Affordable Care Act, what some people call "Obamacare," originally required states to expand the Medicaid health insurance program to cover all those earning up to 138 percent of the federal poverty wage, which amounts to about $28,600 for a family of three. Above that income level, people can get federal subsidies to buy health insurance though online exchanges. However, a U.S. Supreme Court decision gave states the option of expanding Medicaid to those who aren't now eligible but don't earn enough to qualify for subsidies.
So far, 27 states and the District of Columbia have chosen to expand Medicaid. The federal government will cover 100 percent of the cost of expansion for those states in 2015 and 2016 Starting in 2017, states will need to chip in 5 percent of the cost for new patients and 10 percent starting in 2020.
In 2013, North Carolina lawmakers opted not to expand, saying the state's troubled system could not handle more patients and worrying that the federal government would expand how much states had to pay as time went on. That means many families and most low-income adults remain ineligible for coverage under the state's health insurance program for the poor and disabled.
"We've still got work to do...That's not even on the table," Rep. Justin Burr, R-Stanly, said Wednesday.
Asked about the argument in the Cone-Reynolds report that expanding Medicaid could spur job creation, Burr said it wasn't convincing.
"The argument that we're going to take money from the taxpayers and create jobs, that's never worked for me," he said.
Unsurprising, the Cone-Reynolds report argues that the bulk of the impact on jobs and the economy would come to the health care sector. Many doctors and hospitals currently provide uncompensated care that Medicaid expansion would cover.
"The lack of Medicaid expansion not only means that hundreds of thousands of low-income North Carolinians will remain uninsured, but also that hospitals, physicians' offices, clinics, pharmacies and other health care providers have less revenue and bear more uncompensated care," the report says.
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