Arkansas Legislature reauthorizes Medicaid expansion
National coverage from AMA Morning Rounds, 3/5/14.
Multiple national and regional newspapers, wire services, and beltway publications cover news of the passage of a much-watched piece of legislation from Arkansas regarding expanded Medicaid eligibility. The New York Times (3/5, Goodnough, Subscription Publication) reports that the Arkansas House of Representatives yesterday voted to reauthorize the state’s private-option Medicaid expansion program. The issue failed to achieve the required 75% support during four previous votes, leaving many to wonder if the Natural State could become the first in the nation to end such a program after it went into effect. Arkansas Republicans first devised the plan as a politically palatable alternative to accepting the Affordable Care Act’s original mandate to expand Medicaid eligibility, which the Supreme Court made optional in a 2012 ruling.
The Wall Street Journal (3/5, Campoy, Radnofsky, Subscription Publication) reports that the final vote passed by a 76-24 margin, meaning it had one more supporter than necessary to pass. Roughly 100,000 people are already enrolled through the program.
The AP (3/5, Demillo) adds that the bill will now head to the desk of Gov. Mike Beebe (D), who plans to sign it.
State lawmakers seek “politically palatable” ways to expand Medicaid. The Washington Post (3/5, Wilson) reports in its “Govbeat” blog that a number of states “are racing to find politically palatable ways to expand Medicaid.” In South Dakota, officials are negotiating with HHS “to find flexibility in expanding coverage.” Republican Gov. Dennis Daugaard “has asked if his state could expand Medicaid to cover those who make up to 100 percent of the poverty limit.” In New Hampshire, a bipartisan proposal known as the “New Hampshire Health Protection Program,” is “gaining support in the legislature while activist Republicans move to block it.” Two Republican lawmakers in Maine “have proposed expanding the state’s Medicaid program to cover about 60,000 additional low-income residents and create a managed care system for all Medicaid recipients.” Meanwhile, in Georgia, Republican lawmakers voted to strip Gov. Nathan Deal (R) “of the power to expand Medicaid unilaterally, on a party-line vote.”