Rolling Back the ACA’s Medicaid Expansion: What Are the Costs for States?
<p>Millions of Americans have gained coverage through the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) expansion of Medicaid. With the possibility that Congress may eliminate or substantially reduce federal funding for the expansion as part of the law’s repeal, states that chose to expand now face the prospect of either maintaining coverage out of their own funds or dropping new beneficiaries from the program.</p><p>In a new <em>To the Point</em> post, George Washington University’s Sara Rosenbaum explains that, along with the loss of coverage for many or the creation of large budget holes, pulling back Medicaid benefits would present states with expensive and complex administrative challenges. </p>
<p>“One law can end the ACA’s Medicaid eligibility expansion funds,” she writes. “But the reverberations from eliminating federal funding will be experienced by the expansion states for years to come.”</p>