Medicaid Expansion: What Will States Do Now?

News outlets explore how the high court's ruling on the health law's Medicaid expansion might play out.

The New York Times: Uncertainty Over Whether States Will Choose To Expand Medicaid
After the Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that a huge expansion of Medicaid in the 2010 health care law was an option and not a requirement for states, experts disagreed on whether states would take the option (Pear, 6/28).

Kaiser Health News: Ruling Puts Pressure On States To Act
The Supreme Court has given states a way out of expanding the Medicaid program under the health law, but governors will be under strong pressure to take the federal money that would pay for coverage for millions of low-income people (Galewitz and Werber Serafini, 6/28).

Reuters: US Ruling Casts Doubt On Expanding Healthcare For The Poor
While the Supreme Court upheld a U.S. healthcare overhaul on Thursday, its decision cast doubt on whether the plan to extend health coverage to more than 30 million uninsured people will reach some of the poorest Americans. In its ruling, the court allows states to opt out of an expansion of Medicaid benefits for low-income earners with household incomes of up to 133 percent of the federal poverty line, or about $30,000. The current Medicaid threshold varies geographically, but in 33 states is under the $22,000 per household definition of poverty (Morgan and Lambert, 6/28).

The Fiscal Times: Will States Opt Out Of Medicaid Expansion?
Now states are facing another crossroads in the evolution of the program, assuming the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare, politically survives beyond the fall elections. The Supreme Court on Thursday reaffirmed the right of states to reject expanding Medicaid to cover poor-but-working adults and prohibited the federal government from withdrawing support for other parts of the program to penalize non-participation (Goozner, 6/28).

Modern Healthcare: Public Hospitals Wary Of Ruling On Medicaid
Public hospital representatives voiced concern about part of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision on the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, saying the ruling could stymie the Medicaid expansion that is essential to safety net hospitals (Barr, 6/28).