WASHINGTON – The expansion of Medicaid under President Barack Obama’s 2010 health care reform law so far has primarily benefited low-income children and pregnant women, according to a report released Wednesday.
Children whose parents have low incomes have received additional health coverage under Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation’s annual report on Medicaid and the uninsured.
“Improvements for children and pregnant women occurred in 10 states largely through continued state take-up of new options in the (health care law),” the report said.
The report also found, however, that there has been little expansion of health care under Medicaid for parents of low-income children or childless adults.
“Medicaid and CHIP (Children’s Health Insurance Program) continue to be the bedrock of coverage for children and pregnant women, thanks to the (health care reform law),” said Tricia Brooks, senior fellow at the Georgetown University Health Policy Institute Center for Children and Families. “Childless adults and parents have not fared so well.”
In some states, adults have been required to pay more into Medicaid or have had their eligibility reduced in the last year, the report said.
The 2010 health care law expanded Medicaid nationally to widen eligibility by offering limited federal money and requiring that the maximum income level for eligibility for the program be raised. Many provisions of the law don’t go into effect until next year.
A 2012 Supreme Court decision on the constitutionality of the law, which largely upheld the law, made the expansion of Medicaid a state decision.
“Medicaid expansion would significantly increase eligibility for parents in many states, with even larger potential gains for other adults,” the report said. “If a state does not expand Medicaid, poor uninsured adults in that state will not gain a new affordable coverage option and likely remain uninsured.”
Officials in some states have chosen not to increase eligibility due to budget concerns, sparking controversy.
In Colorado, however, the decision to expand Medicaid eligibility had support from both Democrats and Republicans, Lorez Meinhold, deputy executive director of the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing, said.
“It increases the resources available in our state to cover an additional 160,000 people,” Meinhold said. “And an investment in health care is an investment in our state.”
The report also stressed that technological advancements included in the health care reform law have helped streamline enrollment in Medicaid and CHIP. This includes new electronic databases of eligible populations, online enrollment options and “no wrong door” procedures that allow eligible citizens to enroll in Medicaid through other programs.
Nico Gomez, deputy chief executive officer of the Oklahoma Health Care Authority, said these programs make a difference by easing the path to enrollment. He cited examples of parents who did not know their children were eligible for state health care or who worked long hours that prevented them from finding health care for their children.
“In Oklahoma these (examples) are all now history,” Gomez said. “It can be done. It can be in real-time, it can be online and it really is the right thing to do to meet the needs of our citizens.”
