Tagged: Medicaid

Although the Supreme Court upheld most of the Affordable Care Act, it said states could choose whether to expand Medicaid. Supporters say doing so helps low income Americans gain coverage and boosts the economy. Critics warn it’s government overreach and is simply unaffordable. We’ll get New Hampshire’s take on this debate.

 Guests

New Hampshire’s Medicaid program currently insures poor children, the disabled and low income pregnant women.

But after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the Affordable Care Act, the state must decide if it wants to expand the program to adults that earn less than $15,000 a year: roughly 58,000 people in New Hampshire.

According to Representative Bill O’Brien, the state just can’t afford to cover those extra people.

Lawmakers will decide this spring whether to expand the state’s Medicaid program to include childless adults making less than roughly $15,000. To make sure they have all the information they need, the Department of Health and Human Services commissioned a study to look at the effects.

We poured over the 61-page report, and boiled it down to these 5 takeaways.

President Obama’s re-election didn’t exactly smooth over implementation of his signature health care law. State governments across the nation maintain a solid level of anxiety over the bill.

Concord is no different…lawmakers like Republican Jeb Bradley expect to spend a lot of time grappling with the Affordable Care Act’s key provisions.

“The biggest single issue that this legislature in the upcoming two years will face is the expansion of Medicaid.”

The Department of Health and Human Services released a report Thursday looking at Medicaid expansion in New Hampshire.

When the Supreme Court ruled on the Affordable Care Act, it said states must be given a choice about expanding their Medicaid programs.

Option A: Keep things as they are.

Option B: Enroll more people, and the Federal government will help you pay for their care.

Democrat Jackie Cilley likes that second option. She says that if New Hampshire doesn’t grow its Medicaid rolls, poor people will continue to slip through the cracks, and that Republican lawmakers in Concord would bear the blame.