- The Biden administration is introducing programs to help people in the so-called “coverage gap” in states that haven’t adopted Medicaid expansion plans.
- Some proposals could target new mothers, older adults living at home, and prison inmates who need treatment for addiction.
- Experts say the pressure is building on the holdout states to approve Medicaid expansion.
An estimated 2 million people in the United States fall into the so-called “coverage gap.”
They live in the dozen of states that turned down Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act, more commonly known as Obamacare.
So even though these folks fall below the poverty line, they still don’t qualify for Medicaid in those states. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities says 60 percent of them are People of Color.
President Joe Biden has sweetened the pot in an effort to get the dozen holdout states to expand Medicaid. The president’s American Rescue Plan contains more matching of federal funds as an incentive.
The Kaiser Family Foundation estimates that’s nearly $10 billion in federal funds over 2 years to those states. So far, however, there are no takers.
Experts say this is the president’s most challenging hurdle, especially in the current political climate. Meanwhile, Biden is focusing on things he can get done.
“Everything Biden is doing now is very incremental,” said Eric Seiber, PhD, a professor in the College of Public Health and director of the Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Evaluation Studies at The Ohio State University.
“Let’s try to do a little better for a few more people. They’re doing innovations around the edges. And they’re doing it with one and a half hands tied behind their backs,” Seiber told Healthline.
Source: healthline