Utah Lawmakers Eager To See Details Of Medicaid Expansion Deal Governor Is Negotiating
Gov. Gary Herbert is seeking to get a work requirement as part of the deal for expanding Medicaid to the state's low-income residents, but it's not yet clear what federal officials are willing to approve.
Deseret News: Work Requirement May Be Key To Selling Utah Lawmakers On Medicaid Expansion Alternative
Utah lawmakers want to see what kind of deal Gov. Gary Herbert finally makes with the Obama administration over a work requirement in his Healthy Utah alternative to Medicaid expansion. ... At least the concept of a work requirement in the governor's Healthy Utah plan got the nod Tuesday from U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell during a meeting in Washington, D.C., with Herbert and other Utah officials. "In the past, they've always told us flat out 'no' on the work requirement," said Utah Department of Health Executive Director David Patton, who was in the meeting. "This was a real breakthrough" (Riley Roche, 9/10).
Also, North Dakota legislators are beginning to think about where they will find the money to fund their share of the Medicaid expansion.
Bismark Tribune: Lawmakers Discuss Medicaid Expansion Impact
[North Dakota Department of Human Services Executive Director Maggie] Anderson told lawmakers that additional state funding for Medicaid expansion will be a topic of discussion in the 2015 session due to a decrease in federal funding. States that expanded Medicaid were eligible for a 100 percent federal match for the first three years which will decline to 90 percent by 2020. In 2017 the federal match drops to 95 percent. Anderson said the remaining 5 percent "will need to be (state) general fund" dollars. She didn't have an estimate on how much this would cost for the final six months of the 2015-17 biennium (Smith, 9/10).