January 17, 2015
By Virgil Dickson,
The future of Medicaid waivers in Florida and Texas is murky as the Obama administration tries to persuade those states’ Republican leaders that expanding Medicaid would be more effective than just extending their waivers.
Both states have soon-to-expire Section 1115 waivers that provide billions each year to help their hospitals with uncompensated-care costs for low-income and uninsured patients.
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“These waiver arrangements ostensibly help with the cost of uncompensated care,” said Joan Alker, executive director of the Georgetown Center for Children and Families. But now the ACA offers states a federal funding option to cover uninsured adults with incomes up to 138% of the federal poverty level. “So a serious question is, why continue to provide funds for uncompensated care?”
Since 2005, Florida has had a Section 1115 Medicaid waiver, set to expire at the end of June, establishing a low-income funding pool to aid the state’s hospitals with uncompensated-care costs. The state has received between $1 billion and $2 billion annually to support safety net providers.
Alker said it’s likely the Obama administration is thinking hard about whether to continue the Florida waiver.
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