States would only see modest costs for implementing the Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act compared to significant increases in federal funds, according to a report by the Kaiser Family Foundation. Some states may see net budget savings even as millions of low-income uninsured Americans gain health coverage.
If all states expanded their programs, state Medicaid spending would increase less than 3% while federal Medicaid spending would increase 26%. An additional 21.3 million people could gain Medicaid coverage by 2022. With other coverage provisions of the ACA, that would cut the uninsured by 48%.
Diane Rowland, executive vice president of the Foundation said, “While some states will see net savings, others will need to weigh the trade-offs between small increases in state spending in return for large gains in coverage supported by mostly federal dollars.”
The ACA set a national floor for Medicaid eligibility for adults with annual incomes at or below 138% of the federal poverty level, which is $15,415 for an individual in 2012. For more information, visitwww.kff.org.
