Medicaid Expansion Article for CLS Web Site

Medicaid Expansion Article for CLS Web Site:

In June 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which would extend health insurance coverage to almost all U.S. residents. While the Supreme Court left the law mostly intact, it held that the federal government could not require states to expand their Medicaid programs to low-income residents who do not currently qualify for Medicaid.

The decision left the future of health insurance coverage for low-income families in limbo. If states do not choose to expand their Medicaid programs, the lowest income families will not qualify for any new health insurance under the ACA, even as health insurance becomes more available to everyone else.

Since the decision, Community Legal Services has advocated tirelessly to ensure that Pennsylvania will expand its Medicaid program to cover more than 700,000 residents beginning on January 1, 2014. We believe that Medicaid expansion is good for public health: studies show that, in states that expand their Medicaid programs, residents live longer and are healthier and more financially stable.

We also believe that Medicaid expansion is good for the economy. For the first three years of expansion, from 2014 to 2016, the federal government will pay for 100% of the costs of covering newly eligible family members. That share of federal spending declines slowly beginning in 2017, remaining steady at 90% from 2020 on.

Three recent Pennsylvania economic studies – one by RAND Health, one by the Commonwealth’s Independent Fiscal Office, and one by the Pennsylvania Economy League – each found that Medicaid expansion would result in tens of billions of dollars in federal funding flowing into Pennsylvania over the next several years. The federal funding would allow Pennsylvania to spend fewer state funds on health insurance and other programs, saving taxpayers money. And it would create tens of thousands of jobs in the Philadelphia region and across the Commonwealth.

Despite these studies, Governor Corbett remains unconvinced of the benefits of Medicaid expansion, stating in his 2013 budget address that he could not recommend expansion “at this time.”

To help to create support for Medicaid expansion, Community Legal Services joined forces with more than one hundred other organizations to launch the Cover the Commonwealth Campaign. We have been happy to play a key role in this important movement by sharing our expertise in the Pennsylvania Medicaid program with coalition members, lawmakers, and the press. We have also lent our support to a number of other initiatives in Philadelphia and beyond, including Philadelphia City Council and Philadelphia Bar Association resolutions in support of expansion.

As a result, support for Medicaid expansion is gaining ground: a recent poll found that a plurality (49%) of Pennsylvanians agree that Medicaid expansion makes good sense (39% disagreed with expansion and 13% were unsure).

In the coming months, we are hopeful that Pennsylvania lawmakers will recognize the public health, economic, and political benefits of Medicaid expansion, so that Pennsylvania’s lowest income families will realize the promise of the ACA.