Cost of Obamacare Medicaid Expansion 49% Higher Than Previously Estimated
By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR | August 12, 2016 | 12:00 PM EDT
FILE - In this March 23, 2010, file photo President Barack Obama is applauded after signing the Affordable Care Act into law in the East Room of the White House in Washington. Government cost estimates for expanding Medicaid to millions more low-income people are increasing faster than expected, raising questions about a vital part of President Barack Obama’s health care law. Estimated per-person costs were an eye-catching 49 percent higher than previously calculated, according to a recent report to Congress from nonpartisan experts with the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The new estimate of $6,366 per person for 2015 was nearly $2,100 higher than expected.(AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — A government report finds that the cost of expanding Medicaid to millions more low-income people is increasing faster than expected, raising questions about a vital part of President Barack Obama's health care law.
The law provided for the federal government to pay the entire cost of the Medicaid expansion from 2014 through the end of this year.
Obama has proposed an extra incentive for states that have not yet expanded Medicaid: three years of full federal financing no matter when they start. But the new cost estimates could complicate things.
http://cnsnews.com/news/article/medicaid-estimate-renews-cost-concerns-over-obamacare
