Ohio and Medicaid expansion in new health care law
Thursday, March 03, 2011
A new report -- "Medicaid Expansion in the new Health Law:
Costs to States" -- finds that the new health care law will
cost states at least $118.04 billion through 2023, and added costs
to Ohio could top $1.3 billion.
Medicaid, created in 1965, is funded by states and the federal
government and provides health care for low-income Americans.
In its first year, less than five million used the program, but
today almost one in four Americans is on Medicaid, according to the
Congressional Budget Office (CBO).
The Washington Post reports that Medicaid "now provides
health insurance to 53 million poor Americans. Starting in
2014, the law will require states to open eligibility to an
anticipated 20 million more people with slightly higher
incomes." Under the new health care law, states cannot
limit who is eligible for Medicaid.
The
report finds that over the next decade, "the federal government
will spend $4.4 trillion on Medicaid." Further, the report
concludes that half of those who will gain health care benefits
under the new health care law will get those benefits through
Medicaid. The report says that Medicaid spending today
already "consumes nearly a quarter of state government
budgets."
The report has estimates of the added costs of Medicaid for each
state under the new health care law. Starting in 2014, the
federal government is expected to cover states' extra costs, but
beginning in 2017 the reports says "state governments will be
forced to spend new money on expanded Medicaid populations, and by
2020, the states will shoulder these new costs fully."
The report finds that added Medicaid costs to Ohio could be
$1.335 billion from 2014-2019, while "Texas alone will be forced to
spend $27 billion-more than the program's entire annual budget
today."
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