State House of Representatives passes Medicaid expansion legislation
ST. PAUL, MN — The Minnesota House of Representatives passed House File 9, a bill that expands access to quality, affordable health care to adults and children by implements the Medicaid expansion option as available under the federal Affordable Care Act (ACA).
The legislation now moves to the Senate.
The bill, authored by Rep. Thomas Huntley (DFL-Duluth), implements the Medicaid expansion option as available under the federal Affordable Care Act (ACA). It also changes the income counting method for determining program eligibility.
Medicaid is the federal health care program for low-income individuals and families, jointly funded by the federal government and the state. Medical Assistance (MA) is Minnesota’s Medicaid program.
“It increases the number of insured in Minnesota by about 35,000, and the federal government will pay the biggest amount of that,” Huntley said. “It will result in a surplus in the Minnesota budget because the feds are picking up a lot of people that we already pay. In addition to that, it brings in about $1.7 billion of extra federal money into the state that will all go to health care providers and hospitals and those sorts of things. It’s a huge economic impact and it saves the state money and it increases the number of insured in the state.”
The federal government will fund 100 percent of the proposed expansion through 2016. Beginning in 2017, a gradual phase down in the federal match occurs, ending in 90 percent federal funding of the proposed expansion by 2020.
Expanding MA eligibility with the federal government paying most of the cost will save Minnesota hundreds of millions of dollars. In addition to the $129 million in savings projected for the 2014-15 biennium, the Department of Human Services estimates that the combination of early and full expansion of Medicaid eligibility will save the state more than $1 billion for the 2011-2015 fiscal period.
Furthermore, with more Minnesotans will be covered with insurance, the occasions of costly uncompensated care for the uninsured in emergency rooms will decline, reducing the hidden tax that is passed onto Minnesotans with health insurance to pay for uncompensated care.
“If you’re a lower middle class person who does not have insurance where you work, this will give you a better product than we could sell to you with MinnesotaCare ultimately,” Huntley said about how the bill will affect the lives of Minnesotans. “And if you’re in the lower working class area, you’ll get medical assistance which it much better than not having insurance.”
With this legislation, Huntley said Minnesota will return to the forefront of health care in the country.
“In 1992 -- a year before I got here -- they passed MinnesotaCare, which was a big step in increasing the number of insured. Since then, we’ve slipped a little in our national rankings in the number of insured. This should put us right back in the front again.”