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A growing number of Republican lawmakers and state Medicaid officials say they may pass up the nearly $1 trillion federal pot to expand the program. Politics is a factor, but cash-strapped states also have legitimate budget concerns.
A new Kaiser Family Foundation poll done immediately after Thursday’s ruling shows the public remains split on the law along party lines.
The Supreme Court ruling shifts the focus to states. But between 20 and 40 may be unable to set up new online insurance markets by fall 2013.
The state with the highest number of uninsured pledges to make shopping for coverage as easy as buying shoes on Zappos.
The decision to let states opt out of the Medicaid expansion means hospitals serving the poor could still be stuck with unpaid care.
Here is an estimate of how many people in each state are expected to gain Medicaid coverage under the health law, if all states move forward.
KHN legal analyst Stuart Taylor talks to Jackie Judd about the source of constitutional authority that the Supreme Court found to uphold the law — and the options states will have for the Medicaid program.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, House Speaker John Boehner, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney and President Obama react to Thursday’s Supreme Court decision on the health law with speeches.
The Supreme Court said the federal health law cannot force states to participate in the planned expansion of Medicaid. But since the federal government was paying the bulk of the bill, will states really forego the option?
The Supreme Court Thursday gave states the option to skip the Medicaid expansion, but the pressure of accepting millions in new federal dollars to pay for coverage for low-income people may be too great.
The ruling on Medicaid creates a new arena for political battles in the 26 states that sued to overturn the law. Within hours of the decision, Republican officials in several states said they were likely to oppose expanding the program.
Four conservative justices write that the majority “regards its strained statutory interpretation as judicial modesty. It is not.”
The chief justice also says that the court “does not express any opinion on the wisdom of the Affordable Care Act. Under the Constitution, that judgment is re-served to the people.”
