Article archive / February 1, 2016
Originally published: . Volume 7, No. 2. Source pages: 3.
On January 12, just one day after he took office, Governor John Bel Edwards signed an executive order to expand Medicaid, creating health coverage for nearly 300,000 Louisiana citizens.
The Medicaid expansion, set to begin by July 1, 2016, will cover uninsured adults who have income at or below 138 percent of the Federal Poverty Level, which is currently $16,242 a year. This coverage will include the people who fell between the cracks of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) eligibility and state Medicaid eligibility.
According to the state’s Legislative Fiscal Office, 298,000 uninsured adults will be eligible for Medicaid under the new expansion. Also, 224,000 adults who now have private insurance will be eligible, according to the Fiscal Office.
Insured people moving from private insurance onto the state’s rolls was sighted by the Jindal administration as one of the reasons for opposing Medicaid expansion. Another reason was that the state could not afford the costs as the percentage paid by the federal government declined.
Federal funding of the expansion is 100 percent in start-up years and drops to 90 percent in 2020.
On January 14 Gov. Edwards welcomed news from President Obama that additional federal money was available to the states expanding their programs.
“With Louisiana’s finances in disarray, this is welcome news…” said Gov. Edwards.
With the change in Louisiana, 31 states and the District of Columbia have now expanded their Medicaid programs under the Affordable Care Act.
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.