Expansion
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South Dakota Voters Pass Medicaid Expansion. What Happens Next?
South Dakota voters followed the pattern of six other states and voted this week to expand Medicaid, extending affordable health care to more than 40,000 adults largely working in jobs without health coverage like hospitality, food service, and construction. In taking this action, South Dakota now joins 39 other states and the District of Columbia.…
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Bipartisan Medicaid Expansion Efforts in North Carolina: How Politicians Formerly Opposed to Expansion Are Framing Their New Support
In a reversal of the longtime opposition of many members of their caucus, House and Senate Republicans in North Carolina have joined Democratic colleagues and shown overwhelming support for Medicaid expansion in North Carolina’s 2022 legislative session. Both chambers have passed their own Medicaid expansion bills with nearly unanimous support from both parties, although they…
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Federal Report Estimates 383,000 Losing Medicaid at End of PHE in Non-Expansion States Will Have No Affordable Options Open to Them
As part of the public health emergency declared by the federal government during the COVID-19 pandemic, people who were enrolled in Medicaid in states across the country were protected from losing it through a continuous coverage provision. The idea was to keep as many people covered as possible with comprehensive, affordable health care during the…
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South Dakota’s Journey to Medicaid Expansion: An Update
South Dakota is still on track to close its Medicaid coverage gap. Voters in the state are set to decide whether to expand Medicaid through ballot initiative this November. Legislators opposed to expansion, recognizing the success of ballot initiatives to expand Medicaid in other states, made an attempt to prevent expansion – but this ended…
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In South Dakota, Medicaid Expansion May Be Up to Voters
In states that have not expanded Medicaid, it’s not for lack of options on how to enact expansion. States have used multiple options to expand Medicaid, including legislation, executive action, and voter-led actions. In South Dakota, one of the twelve remaining states that has yet to expand Medicaid, lawmakers put forward legislation earlier this year…
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Report Finds Medicaid Expansion Has Made Huge Impact in Montana, Especially in Rural Areas
The Montana Healthcare Foundation hired consulting firm Manatt Health to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the effects of the Montana legislature’s expansion of the Medicaid program. This follows up the foundation’s 2021 report on Montana’s Medicaid program and Medicaid expansion. Combined, these reports lay out the background of Medicaid in Montana and the program’s reach,…
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North Carolina: A Bipartisan Effort to Expand Medicaid Coverage and Improve Access to Healthcare
Last month, my colleague Adam Searing wrote a blog post about the status of Medicaid expansion in five states (South Dakota, North Carolina, Wyoming, Missouri, and Mississippi) twelve years after the passage of the Affordable Care Act. This week, we’re taking a closer look at one of these states, North Carolina, which is on a…
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Medicaid Expansion Discussion in Selected States Twelve Years After ACA Passage
This week marks the twelve-year anniversary of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) but residents of twelve states still have not been able to access the Medicaid expansion benefit enacted as part of that law as their state leaders have blocked it from taking effect. Over two million Americans are still unable to get quality, affordable…
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Missouri Medicaid Expansion Moves Forward
On July 22, the Missouri Supreme Court in a 7-0 decision ruled that Missouri’s voter-passed Medicaid expansion must proceed regardless of legislative foot-dragging and inaction by the Governor. The unanimous decision was decided on fairly simple legal grounds. The court noted that the voter-passed initiative had changed Missouri law and added the parents and other…
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Oklahoma Successfully Implements Medicaid Expansion
By Emma Morris, Oklahoma Policy Institute Since Medicaid expansion became an option for states in 2012, most Oklahoma lawmakers have been reluctant to take advantage of this life-saving opportunity, despite its health, economic, and fiscal benefits. In response to legislative foot-dragging, advocates leveraged the initiative petition process to put the issue to a vote of…
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A Profile of South Carolina’s Low-Wage Uninsured Workers
The recently enacted American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARP) includes new large financial incentives for states to extend health insurance coverage to low-wage workers and other adults earning less than $17,775 a year.¹ These incentives apply to regular spending in a state’s Medicaid program and offer a five-percentage point across the board increase in the…
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Low-Wage Uninsured Workers: Who are They and Where do They Work?
Allie Corcoran and I have embarked on a new research project looking at the occupations and industries of low-wage, uninsured workers in states that have not expanded Medicaid with American Community Survey data.[1] As readers of the SayAhhh! blog know, there are 12 states that have not expanded Medicaid and have higher uninsured rates for…
