Saturday, November 12, 2016

The Medicaid expansion...expanded?

I have a post up at healthinsurance.org that mulls over this forecast from Reed Abelson's article about ACA replacement:
The Trump administration and Congress “are not going to pull out the rug from people,” said Dr. J. Mario Molina, the chief executive of Molina Healthcare, a for-profit insurer. He predicted that the earliest the law could be repealed was 2018, and that it would be replaced with something like a modified version of Medicaid, the government insurance for poor people. “The debate is not around the what, but around the how,” he said.
It's not surprising that the CEO of a Medicaid managed care company would anticipate Medicaid managed care for all who need it. For Trump, it would have the benefit of simplicity. But it would also require commitment, follow-through, and bucking Republican hatred of Medicaid, so we'd have to put it in the "highly unlikely" box.

But I think it would be worth doing. And a suitable "modified version of Medicaid" already exists - as explained in the post, which I hope you'll read.

1 comment:

  1. The worst pain in MN is for persons with over 400% of poverty. (other states also, i sell insurance in many states)

    A 62 year old couple with a $70,000 income faces an ACA premium of $2500 a month, $30,000 a year. And for a rather crappy policy with a $2500 deductible and limited drug benefits.

    Getting these persons into a BHP will take a significant amount of tax dollars.
    Not that it shouldn't be done!

    Your post sounded like BHP plans should stop at 275% of poverty. For a single person that is just $28,000 of income or so. I say big deal.

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