Medicaid spending rose 17.7% in expansion states, compared to 6.1% in non-expansion states.
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Earlier this month, an independent consultant in Arkansas reported that ending Medicaid expansion would have a “substantial cost” for the state.
Despite this year’s Medicaid spending growth, experts project that things will slow a bit in FY 2016, according to the report.
An article on NPR.org effectively debunked Fox News’ fearmongering about states that chose to accept federal funds to expand Medicaid eligibility, pointing out that “states whose governors, most Republicans who opposed the Affordable Care Act, chose not to accept federal funds to extend Medicaid to more people… saw their costs to provide healthcare to the poor rise twice as fast as states that extended benefits to more low-income residents”.
That modest increase in Medicaid spending in the expansion states came even as the rate of Medicaid participation rose 18 percent, three times as much as the states sitting out. “But many other changes are underway in Medicaid programs across the country as states engage in an array of delivery system reforms to help coordinate care and control costs”. Montana plans to expand Medicaid next year – becoming the 30th state. That’s still significantly higher than the normal federal share, which in Tennessee is 65 percent. For example, the contribution from the federal government for Medicaid only increased 0.36 percentage points from 65.88 percent in fiscal year 2015 to 66.24 in fiscal year 2016.
Florida, like most states, has turned over most of its Medicaid operations to private managed care firms that get paid a set monthly fee to care for enrollees. Even after the federal match starts shrinking in 2017, Arkansas would stand to lose $438 million if it reverted to the traditional Medicaid program, the Stephen Group found.
Despite the surge in enrollment, state Medicaid officials from Arizona, Colorado and Florida said they have seen no major problems with Medicaid enrollees getting access to health care.
A survey of Medicaid directors in all 50 states showed that Medicaid expansion states only saw a 3.4 percent increase in state Medicaid spending growth compared to non-expansion states like North Carolina that experienced on average a 6.9 percent increase in state spending growth. And 15 states said that a larger share of prison inmates may qualify for Medicaid services when they are admitted to inpatient facilities outside of prison.
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Since 2013, the number of uninsured adults has dropped by 152,000, to a rate of 8.2 percent, the lowest level since 2004.
