Soaring Medicaid Enrollment Could Hit State Budgets

Under the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion, enrollment in the program is soaring past expectations in a handful of states, raising some concerns about whether states will have trouble covering the costs down the road. So far, some 12 million people have enrolled in Medicaid through the expansion — with most states that expanded their program seeing sign-ups significantly surpass their expectations. At least seven states saw massive waves in enrollment totaling about 1.4 million more people than originally estimated, Politico first reported. The ACA originally expanded Medicaid in every state, but a 2012 ruling by the Supreme Court gave states the right to choose whether they wanted to expand their programs. Twenty-one states decided to opt out of the expansion, with many governors, most of them Republican, saying their states wouldn’t be able to handle the cost of expanding their programs. Now as other states’ Medicaid rolls grow, there is concern that it could cost those states more than anticipated after 2016 when they are on the hook for paying 10 percent.

Source/more: Fiscal Times 

David Wingate is an elder law and estate planning attorney in Frederick and Montgomery, Counties, Maryland. The law practice consists of wills, power of attorneys, trusts, Medicaid and asset protection.