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Giving Compass' Take:
• Reid Wilson reports that Utah and Idaho are working to restrict the coverage provided under Medicaid expansions that voters approved.
• How can funders work to increase the number of Americans with insurance coverage?
• Learn more about the fight to expand Medicaid in red states.
Just months after voters in Utah and Idaho approved ballot measures meant to expand Medicaid coverage to more low-income residents under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), legislators in both states are moving to place restrictions on the number of new people who would be covered.
Utah’s state Senate on Monday advanced a measure to cover those who make up to 100 percent of the federal poverty limit under Medicaid.
Those who make between 100 percent and 138 percent of the federal poverty level would be required to purchase subsidized insurance plans on the ACA’s individual marketplace.
The plan would replace Proposition 3, a measure that would have covered everyone up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level under Medicaid paid for by a 0.15 percentage point increase in the state sales tax. The measure passed in November by a 53 percent to 47 percent margin.
The Senate-passed bill, which must now pass the state House before heading to Gov. Gary Herbert’s (R) desk, would require a waiver from the federal Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to cover costs.
CMS has not granted any similar waivers to other states. Arkansas and Massachusetts, which experts said asked for similar exemptions, were rejected.
If CMS refuses to grant the waiver, the Senate-passed bill would repeal the voter-passed Medicaid expansion.
Read the full article about attempting to limit Medicaid expansion by Reid Wilson at The Hill.