Corbett's Delay in Asking for Medicaid Expansion Changes May Mean No Coverage for 500K n 2014

[JPZenger]

Corbett has delayed and delayed in formally asking for adjustments from the Feds, before he would agree to allow the Feds to cover 100% of the cost of a Medicaid expansion. In PA, it is called Medical Assistance. Instead, he has only had informal discussions with the Feds, and STILL has not submitted a formal request. He is also asking for some adjustments that no other state has requested.

According to a news article this morning, these delays and excessive conditions may mean that Medicaid expansion will not be available to 500,000 additional Pennsylvanians in 2014. Instead, they will have to wait until January 2015 for affordable coverage. The feds are committed to pay 100% of the costs of Medicaid expansion for 3 years - PA. may lose out on one of those years. After that, the feds intend to pay 90% in the fourth year.

According to some reports I have read, the federal health insurance exchanges will not provide subsidies to persons who could have been eligible for Medicaid expansion. Therefore, these people are in a no man's land, with no coverage.

As a result, everyone who pays for insurance else ends up continuing to paying a hidden cost for the health care costs of the uninsured, and the hospitals that serve large numbers of the poor are screwed.
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Two good new articles:

http://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/mc-pa-tom-corbett-medicaid-expansion-0916-20130916,0,2500480.story

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20130917_Thomas_Fitzgerald__Politics_factors_into_Corbett_s_stance_on_health_care.html
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"Monday the governor would not even say if the administration had indicated that Obama was amenable to any alterations Corbett is proposing.

“If the goal is for everybody to have quality, affordable health care, this is Pennsylvania's way of doing it,” Corbett said. “That's why I would hope he would agree with me.”

And the governor wouldn't be drawn on what he'll do if Washington say's 'no.'

“I'm not going to go into the barriers right now,” he added. “We are going to be very positive today.”

http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2013/09/corbetts_health_care_light_kee.html

[Archae]

1. If Corbett gets his way, this will be in "Corbettcare."

"...passing a law to allow doctors to apologize for mistakes without it being used in a lawsuit..."

http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2013/09/corbett_medicaid_obama_obamaca.html

I had to sue a hospital, when their ER doctor ignored my broken collarbone.
(The hospital finally fired the doctor after she was sued 3 more times.)

[JPZenger]

2. Corbett has made a political statement, without submitting a formal request to the Feds

"But feeding tax dollars to private insurers, requiring proof-of-job searches and adding premiums for some recipients could prove problematic in getting federal approval, and could slow or kill the whole proposal.

There's also a gaping absence of specificity. When asked how much federal money the state might get under his plan, Corbett had no answer. When asked how soon his plan could be in place, Corbett said, "I don't have a timetable."

When asked if there's a Plan B should Washington reject the proposal, Corbett said, "I'm not going to answer that question."

Such vagueness is enough to encourage thoughts that all this is intended to get the governor through an election year without a real resolution to Medicaid issues, for which he can then blame Washington."

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/politics/20130918_Corbett_offers_answers__also_raises_questions.html#YevVSDI2JpBi7R4T.99