Posted on 05/16/2014 6:58:33 AM PDT by PaulCruz2016
It looks as if Indiana may soon join the list of red states signing up for the Affordable Care Act's Medicaid expansion.
Republican Gov. Mike Pence, after months of discussions with the Obama administration, offered a plan Thursday to expand Medicaid coverage to low-income uninsured Hoosiers.
About two dozen states still haven't joined the Affordable Care Act Medicaid expansion, which extends coverage to low-income adults earning up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level. Some states like Texas and Louisiana appear entrenched in their opposition to major elements of the health care law. Other Republican states, however, are still looking for ways to accept hundreds of millions, and even billions, in federal dollars to expand coverage — all while trying to maintain some distance from the Medicaid expansion envisioned by the ACA.
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...
It appears that Indiana brings them to 50%.
Free $$$$ is hard to explain to their voters why they are turning it down.
I swear, they send a ‘Sharpton’ in to set people straight.
Very disappointing. Pence can be very good. Then he can pull something like this (or his amnesty triangulation proposal under Jorge Bush).
It’s the Healthy Indiana Plan. It includes co-pays & monthly contributions not your standard medicaid. The Feds don’t like it. Misleading headline.
Another one bites the dust.
...sigh...
Every time I find a person who might be able to garner my vote sooner or later I am reminded by them that they are all grifters.
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Last year, Pence insisted that he would only expand coverage if he could do it through the Healthy Indiana Plan, a health savings account-type of program for about 45,000 adult Hoosiers who don't qualify for the traditional Medicaid program.
But the Obama administration said HIP's enrollment cap, and some cost-sharing features were potentially problematic. HIP's design has been praised by conservatives for requiring Medicaid beneficiaries to be more cost conscious because they share more financial responsibility for their care.
Pence's proposal will lift HIP enrollment caps and open the program to working-age adults earning less than 138 percent of the federal poverty level ($16,105 for an individual or $32,913 for a family of four). Between 334,000 and 598,000 people will be covered under the plan, according to Pence's office. Enrollment would open in 2015 if the plan gained federal approval.
The existing HIP program, which only covers people making less than the federal poverty level, requires enrollees to contribute to the first $1,100 of their care.
Under the expanded program that changes. HIP Members who make less than the poverty level would have the option to make monthly contributions. If they don't, they will be transferred to a basic level of coverage without vision and dental benefits. The lower coverage level requires co-payments for services, instead of monthly premiums. There are no co-pays, though, for preventive care and family planning services.
Read an article from, say, an Indiana newspaper. Pence hasn’t proposed an “expansion” of Medicaid; he’s proposed a state run alternative to Medicaid which would eliminate the federal Medicaid program in the State of Indiana.
It’s still socialize medicine, which no conservative should promote.
The Healthy Indiana Plan is more like socialized insurance, but decidedly less so than the federal Medicaid because the Healthy Indiana Plan requires the recipient to share in the cost and encourages health savings accounts.
Sickening, isn’t it?
“Expand” is the troubling term used. I don’t care who implements it, state or fed.
This is troubling. I guess Pence is not ready for prime time.
If you can’t afford HIP we’ll give you care anyway, just throw us a buck here and there and we’ll pretend your doing your share.
Actually, I think he's past his expiration date.
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