Yesterday, the Wolf administration announced that it is changing the state’s course on Medicaid expansion. Under Governor Corbett, Pennsylvania was to have a Medicaid-light expansion, which expanded coverage for low-income folks, but through private insurers.
Governor Wolf’s administration is scrapping this proposal and shifting people who were receiving private coverage to public coverage. This move is supposed to make the coverage options more streamlined and the process less complex for folks covered under the plan.
You can find some frequently asked questions about the change here.
The 2014-15 budget already incorporated a number of the state savings that would have been reaped by a Medicaid expansion, so it isn’t clear if this will have a fiscal impact on the current budget. More details on what it means, financially, for the state in 2015-16 will likely be included in the governor’s budget proposal coming out on March 3.
We will keep you informed as we find out more.