Pennsylvania, CMS agree on 'Healthy PA' Medicaid expansion plan

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services released a press statement Thursday announcing that CMS and Pennsylvania officials. have agreed to expand Medicaid in Pennsylvania.

Philadelphia Inquirer: Feds Approve Corbett's Pa. Medicaid Expansion Proposal
Ending a year-long series of negotiations, the Obama administration on Thursday approved Gov. Corbett's Medicaid expansion alternative proposal to extend health care benefits to as many as 600,000 uninsured Pennsylvanians. In what is described as a five-year demonstration project, Pennsylvania received the go-ahead to use federal funds to pay private insurers. The decision by the Department of Health and Human Services means Pennsylvania joins Arkansas and Iowa, which also received waivers to provide alternatives to Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act (Worden, 8/28).

Harrisburg Patriot-News: Corbett Gains Approval To Use Obamacare Funds To Expand Health Insurance
The expanded coverage, to become available Jan. 1, is for people earning up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level, which is about $16,000 for a single person and $32,000 for a family of four. It's Corbett's version of the Medicaid expansion called for in Obamacare and now available in more than half the states. Corbett's version of the plan will use the federal funds to buy private coverage which administration officials say will give incentives toward healthy behavior and other measures intended to lead to greater self-sufficiency (Wenner, 8/28).

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Corbett's 'Healthy PA' Medicaid Overhaul Appoved By Federal Regulators
Mr. Corbett's plan, submitted to the federal government in February, would not directly expand the state's Medicaid program, but would offer federal subsidies to about 500,000 low-income Pennsylvanians to purchase private insurance. "From the beginning, I said we needed a plan that was created in Pennsylvania for Pennsylvania -; a plan that would allow us to reform a financially unsustainable Medicaid program and increase access to health care for eligible individuals through the private market," Mr. Corbett said in a prepared statement (Giammarise, 8/28).

Wall Street Journal: Obama Administration, Pennsylvania Governor Reach Deal to Expand Medicaid
The Obama administration has reached a deal with Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett to expand the state's Medicaid program to half a million low-income residents under the Affordable Care Act, state officials said. The deal makes Pennsylvania the 27th state to agree to participate in a provision of the federal health law. It also marks a win for the federal government in its efforts to coax reluctant states to grow their Medicaid programs to include everyone earning up to a third more than the federal poverty level, in the wake of a Supreme Court decision in June 2012 that allowed states to opt out (Radnofsky, 8/28).

Washington Post: Pennsylvania's Republican Governor Expands Medicaid
Medicaid coverage for Pennsylvania adults earning below 133 percent of the federal poverty line, or about $15,500, will begin in January. Starting in 2016, adults earning above the federal poverty line will have to pay premiums worth no more than 2 percent of household income. Those adults can be dropped from the program for failing to pay premiums, but they can also receive discounts for healthy behaviors, like going for a check-up. "Like we are doing in Pennsylvania, [the Department of Health and Human Services] and CMS are committed to supporting state flexibility and working with states on innovative solutions that work within the confines of the law to expand Medicaid to low-income individuals," said CMS Administrator Marilyn Tavenner in a statement. "But, unfortunately, millions of Americans are still without Medicaid coverage because their state has yet to act" (Millman, 8/28)