The National Health Law Program protects and advances the health rights of low income and underserved individuals. The oldest non-profit of its kind, NHeLP advocates, educates and litigates at the federal and state level.
NHeLP Spotlight
| Happy Birthday ACA! This Year’s Present: Medicaid Expansion Brought to You by Republican Governors! |
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March 23rd marked the third anniversary of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and this year, we received an early present: the possibility of expanded Medicaid eligibility in states that have opposed health reform from day one. Eight Republican Governors have come out in support of the federal government’s generous funding under health reform that allows states to expand their Medicaid programs to cover uninsured low-income adults starting in 2014. That is a huge win for individuals and families in those states as well as overall public health. The growing popularity of expanding Medicaid should not come as a surprise. Medicaid is a lifeline for over 52 million low-income women, children, and persons with disabilities, providing coverage for health care they otherwise could not afford. Medicaid works and makes sense, both in terms of dollars spent and the populations served. NHeLP is working with advocates across the country to ensure that states accept federal funding to provide health coverage for vulnerable populations and is working with federal agencies to promote federal policies that protect beneficiaries and comply with all legal developments. Join NHeLP in celebrating the ACA’s third birthday by brushing up on some of the many reasons Medicaid makes sense.
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| Medicaid Makes $ense |
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In the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s 2012 health reform ruling, states are quickly making decisions about whether to implement the Affordable Care Act’s adult Medicaid expansion. The stakes are huge: 17 million low-income individuals could gain access to much-needed health coverage. A key factor for many states is potential cost. However, a number of state fiscal analyses greatly exaggerate the cost of the Medicaid expansion, creating confusion among policy makers and health advocates. After reviewing more than a dozen of these analyses and related literature, NHeLP has developed a number of tools for advocates to make the economic case for expanding Medicaid. |
| NHeLP’s newest Supreme Court and Medicaid expansion resources |
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Recent publications:
Click here to read all of NHeLP’s Supreme Court and Medicaid expansion resources. Other important NHeLP Health Reform links: |
| NHeLP's Medicaid Expansion Toolbox |
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On June 28, 2012, the Supreme Court upheld most of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius (NFIB). While the Court upheld the ACA’s significant Medicaid expansion, it limited the federal government’s enforcement authority if a state fails to implement the expansion—a move that is already raising questions for Medicaid programs nationwide.
NHeLP’s Medicaid Expansion Toolbox serves as a one-stop resource center for health advocates and states trying to make sense of the Court’s decision, implications for Medicaid and policy considerations moving forward. If you want to share with other advocates fact sheets, reports, or other materials on Medicaid expansion in your state, please email Wayne Turner at turner@healthlaw.org.
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