As Republican's shift their ACA message from "demolish" to "fix," a growing Republican contingent want the expanded Medicaid programs to remain, The Washington Post reports.
It's expected HHS Secretary Tom Price, MD, will leave the ACA's expanded Medicaid program intact, but will use his administrative powers to allow states more freedom in running their programs, The Post reports.
If expanded Medicaid programs remain intact with increased state discretion, Medicaid enrollments could expand under President Trump, according to an analysis by Timothy Callaghan, PhD, an assistant professor of public health at College Station-based Texas A&M — and Lawrence Jacobs. Dr. Callaghan is also the Mondale Chair for Political Science at Minneapolis-based University of Minnesota.
Sixteen Republican governors expanded Medicaid under former President Barack Obama. Eight face reelection in 2018. They are pressuring Congress to leave Medicaid as is because the expanded program "helped state budgets while enabling those states to insure an additional 12 million people, thereby reducing the amount of unpaid medical services those states have to underwrite," according to The Post.
If Dr. Price allows states greater discretion, The Post analysts expect Republican-ran states to introduce conservative Medicaid proposals requiring active employment or fee for coverage.
The Post analysts predicted two likely scenarios:
1. Republican run states will expand Medicaid under President Trump covering nearly 1.46 million people.
2. Factors, like unemployment rate and economic circumstance, will dictate how many new Medicaid recipients a state can enroll.
The analysts summarize if states have greater discretion, more Republican ran states will sign on, resulting in a Republican-controlled government causing a significant expansion in benefits.