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Oklahoma voters approve constitutional amendment to expand Medicaid
[Cross-posted from the Georgetown University Health Policy Institute’s Center for Children and Families] Oklahoma voters took a historic step and nudged their state forward toward becoming the 38th in the nation (including Washington, DC) to provide residents more affordable health insurance through their Medicaid program. The constitutional amendment passed by voters requires the state to […]
Is the national resistance to Medicaid expansion starting to crack?
Survey of hold-out states indicates the Medicaid expansion debate has entered a new phase Across the states, the approach of an election year typically provides an excuse for policymakers to avoid taking on controversial and complex policy issues for fear of offending one side or the other.
New report: Medicaid expansion is having a big and positive impact on safety net hospitals and clinics
The 19 states, including North Carolina, that continue to decline federal funding to offer Medicaid coverage to more uninsured residents are missing out on more than just improvements to their uninsured and uncompensated care rates. In fact, the ability of providers in Medicaid expansion states to deliver care to their most vulnerable patients has notably […]
How conservative states are expanding Medicaid
Since January 1, 2014 North Carolina has declined to accept the “use it or lose it” funding available for Medicaid expansion from the federal government under the Affordable Care Act. In contrast, 28 states and the District of Columbia have all moved forward with the available funding to cover their lowest income residents with health […]
Medicaid expansion nears the tipping point
Why holdout governors are finally warming up to a central component of Obamacare [Editor’s note: over this past weekend, North Carolina DHHS Secretary Aldona Wos told the Winston-Salem Journal that she would “soon” recommend that North Carolina finally join the growing list of states to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. As the following […]
Senator Richard Burr: Makes up his own facts about NC Medicaid in order to criticize it
North Carolina’s Senator Burr used to be a fan of NC’s Medicaid program. In fact, he presented NC Medicaid with a national award for delivering great care and containing costs just last year. Then came the Affordable Care Act and the decision NC has to make about expanding Medicaid coverage using federal dollars to low-income […]
US Sen Burr: Bashing Affordable Care Act with mistakes
US Senator Burr is the star witness at the NC General Assembly’s “bash the Affordable Care Act” here at UNC Greensboro today. Unfortunately Burr, described as “the foremost authority on health care in the Senate” by one of the legislators here, is making some pretty big mistakes in his testimony. Amazingly, these mistakes just happen […]
Changing jobs, not my work
After 17 years at the North Carolina Justice Center I’m finally going to be leaving. I am joining Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families (CCF) at the McCourt Center for Public Policy in DC. Luckily I’ll be doing the much of the same work with CCF that I’ve done here in North Carolina but […]
Gallup: Uninsured rate dropping more in states embracing Affordable Care Act
While this shouldn’t come as a surprise, according to the latest polling from Gallup, the uninsured rate is dropping about three times faster in states that have expanded Medicaid, set up a state health exchange and generally embraced the Affordable Care Act as opposed to states (like NC) that are dragging their feet. Real world consequences […]
NC refuses Medicaid expansion and Wilkes County hurts – badly
You could tell this story in any one of the most rural counties in North Carolina. From the Wilkes Journal-Patriot in a stunning story yesterday: Over half of the 898 people who contacted a temporary counselor in Wilkes County for help in signing up for health insurance during the first federal Affordable Care Act (ACA) open […]
Lower cost projections for Affordable Care Act mean good news for states too
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released the fourth year report on projections of the cost of the Affordable Care Act. The news is good and consistent with the trend over the previous four years: CBO now projects $104 billion less in costs under the Act than it did last year. The reduction in costs is due […]
Medicaid expansion: Life v. Death
A popular theme on the Right is that having Medicaid health coverage is worse than having no health insurance at all. After all the years I’ve spent traveling North Carolina and meeting people in poverty desperate for basic health care but with no way to pay for coverage I still can’t believe people can make […]