This CNBC article and video suggests that Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act has so many constituents now that it will be very difficult to reverse, even in states that are now run by Republicans.
As the article notes the new patients now covered by Medicaid expansion generally like it. And so do hospitals, which now don’t have to cover so much uncompensated care
As CNBC notes: “A growing number of states have signed up for that expansion of the government-run program for poor people, or are discussing doing so. Hospitals are becoming accustomed to the money that comes with expansion, and a majority of new enrollees are saying they are happy with their coverage.
“The difficulty of getting rid of Medicaid expansion, which uses federal dollars to give health benefits to previously ineligible adults, was sharply underscored this fall by the election of ardent Obamacare foe Matt Bevin as governor of Kentucky.
“The Republican Bevin originally promised to repeal expansion of Medicaid in Kentucky, where about 400,000 have joined the Medicaid rolls since the Affordable Care Act was implemented. He since has backed away from that vow. Bevin most recently has talked about redesigning the state’s Medicaid program, but has not yet offered a plan.”
“I do think we’ve reached the tipping point,” Diane Rowland, executive vice president of the Kaiser Family Foundation, told CNBC. “It’s part of the fabric of our health-care system now.”
“I think there are still states that are strongly resistant to it, but I think the tide is beginning to sweep more states in,” she added.
