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Life Health > Health Insurance > Your Practice

Traps face states that spurn Medicaid expansion money

By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Rejecting the Medicaid expansion in the federal health care law could have unexpected consequences for states in which Republican lawmakers remain steadfastly opposed to what they scorn as “Obamacare.”

Rejecting expansion could mean exposing businesses to Internal Revenue Service (IRS) penalties and leaving low-income citizens unable to afford coverage even as legal immigrants get financial aid for their premiums. For the poorest people, expansion rejection could virtually guarantee they remain uninsured and dependent on the emergency room at local hospitals.

Backers of a deal forged in Arkansas last week cited such concerns when they were lining up support. The Republican-controlled Legislature endorsed a plan by Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe to accept additional Medicaid money under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), but to use the new dollars to buy private insurance for eligible residents rather than actually expanding Medicaid.

One of the main arguments for the private option was that it would help businesses avoid tax penalties.

The Obama administration hasn’t signed off on the Arkansas deal, and it’s unclear how many other states will use it as a model.

“The biggest lesson out of Arkansas is not so much the exact structure of what they are doing,” said Alan Weil, executive director of the nonpartisan National Academy for State Health Policy. “Part of it is just a message of creativity, that they can look at it and say, ‘How can we do this in a way that works for us?’”

About half the nearly 30 million uninsured people expected to gain coverage under PPACA would do so through Medicaid. Its expansion would cover low-income people making up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level, about $15,860 for an individual.

Middle-class people who don’t have coverage at their jobs will be able to purchase private insurance in new state markets, helped by new federal tax credits. The big push to sign up the uninsured starts this fall, and coverage takes effect Jan. 1.

As originally written, PPACA required states to accept the Medicaid expansion as a condition of staying in the program. Last summer’s Supreme Court decision gave each state the right to decide. While that pleased many governors, it also created complications by opening the door to unintended consequences.

So far, 20 mostly blue states, plus the District of Columbia, have accepted the expansion.

Thirteen GOP-led states have declined. They say Medicaid already is too costly, and they don’t trust Washington to keep its promise of generous funding for the expansion, which would mainly help low-income adults with no children at home.

Concerns about unintended consequences could make the most difference in 17 states still weighing options.

A look at some potential side effects:

The employer glitch
States that don’t expand Medicaid leave more businesses exposed to tax penalties, according to a recent study by Brian Haile, Jackson Hewitt’s senior vice president for tax policy. He estimates the fines could top $1 billion a year in states refusing.

Under PPACA, employers with 50 or more workers that don’t offer coverage face penalties if just one of their workers gets subsidized private insurance through the new state markets. But employers generally do not face fines under the law for workers who enroll in Medicaid.

In states that don’t expand Medicaid, some low-income workers who would otherwise have been eligible have a fallback option. They can instead get subsidized private insurance in the law’s new markets. But that would trigger a penalty for their employer.

“It highlights how complicated the Affordable Care Act is,” said Haile.

The immigrant quirk
Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, a Republican, called attention this year to this politically awkward problem when she proposed that her state accept the Medicaid expansion.

Under the health law, U.S. citizens below the poverty line — $11,490 for an individual, $23,550 for a family of four — can only get coverage through the Medicaid expansion. But lawfully present immigrants who are also below the poverty level are eligible for subsidized private insurance.

Congress wrote the legislation that way to avoid controversy associated with trying to change previous laws that require legal immigrants to wait five years before they can qualify for Medicaid. Instead of dragging immigration politics into the health care debate, lawmakers devised a detour.

Before the Supreme Court ruling, it was a legislative patch.

Now it could turn into an issue in states with lots of immigrants, such as Texas and Florida, creating the perception that citizens are being disadvantaged versus immigrants.

The fairness argument
Under the law, U.S. citizens below the poverty line can only get taxpayer-subsidized coverage by going into Medicaid. But other low-income people making just enough to put them over the poverty line can get subsidized private insurance through the new state markets.

An individual making $11,700 a year would be able to get a policy. But someone making $300 less would be out of luck, dependent on charity care.

“Americans have very strong feelings about fairness,” said Weil.

Medicare and Medicaid chief Marilyn Tavenner, also overseeing the health overhaul, told the Senate recently that cost is a key question as the administration considers the Arkansas deal. Private insurance is more expensive than Medicaid.

But Tavenner said the Arkansas approach may be cost-effective if it reduces the number of low-income people cycling back and forth between Medicaid and private coverage, saving administrative expenses. “We are willing to look at it,” she said.

Associated Press reporter Andrew DeMillo in Little Rock, Ark., contributed to this report.

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