Medicaid and Insuring the Poor: Where Are We Heading?

Using special demonstration authority, the federal government has permitted six states to expand Medicaid on an experimental basis. Now some leading policymakers suggest giving states the flexibility to routinely modify Medicaid law, even without special authorization. In a new Commonwealth Fund–supported analysis (New England Journal of Medicine, Oct. 13, 2016), George Washington University’s Sara Rosenbaum reviews the states’ planned expansions and their implications for where Medicaid is headed.