Pennsylvania Awaits Ruling on Medicaid Expansion
“The request comes in the form of a waiver that the Republican governor has requested as part of his bid to receive additional federal funds for Medicaid, the state-federal program for the poor and disabled.
If approved, Pennsylvania would be the first state to include the work requirement for Medicaid. According to federal regulations, a decision by the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services could come as early as Monday, but Corbett's office says that won't happen.
Points of debate in Corbett's 124-page plan, dubbed Healthy PA, include questions over premium rates and plans to waive both retroactive eligibility and Medicaid's appeals process, which advocates for the poor contend would violate the law.
The Affordable Care Act expands Medicaid expansion to all adults below 138 percent of the federal poverty level, or an additional 454,000 people in Pennsylvania, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Corbett's plan seeks to build on modifications, or "waivers," President Barack Obama's administration has granted in states such as Arkansas and Iowa that allow use of federal Medicaid money to purchase private plans.”
According to the article, the whole premise of this extension is to help individuals break a cycle of poverty, do you agree with that statement? what do you think about the possible extension of Medicaid in Pennsylvania?
Full article at: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/pennsylvania-awaits-ruling-medicaid-expansion-23489485
I don't know much about this Health Care Act but from the few people i have talked to, it seems as if their premiums are actually increasing instead of decreasing as the article says. I guess the point is to distribute medical costs between the poor and the rich then maybe it is fair and it might break the cycle of poverty. If the outcome will be similar to the English/British medical system , which is good then it's worth a try.
ReplyDeleteIt is unfair for a child born into poverty to not have access to medical care in our society. It would be a good thing if medical health care is available to more people. On the other hand, we do have a national debt crisis. This is complicated.
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