INSTITUTE INDEX: Southern states revisit Medicaid expansion
This week Georgia's Republican governor, Nathan Deal (center), announced that his administration was considering expanding the Medicaid health insurance program to more low-income people in his state. He joins Democratic governors Roy Cooper of North Carolina (left) and Terry McAuliffe of Virginia (right), who are pressing for expansion despite resistance from their GOP-controlled legislatures.
When President Trump took office in January, number of states that still had not expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, which remains law after congressional Republicans failed to muster enough votes last week for a repeal: 19
Of the 13 Southern states, number that have expanded the program, which provides health insurance to low-income and disabled people: 4*
Of the nine Southern states that have declined expansion, number where governors are now discussing it again: 3
Date on which Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal (R) announced that his administration is exploring Medicaid expansion: 3/27/2017
Date on which Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) proposed his latest amendment to the state budget giving him power to set Medicaid expansion in motion: 3/27/2017
Additional number of Virginians who could get health insurance coverage under Medicaid expansion: 400,000
Amount in federal funds Virginia has forfeited because of its refusal to expand Medicaid to date: $10.4 billion
Date on which the Virginia legislature will reconvene to consider McAuliffe's proposal, with the GOP leadership saying expansion doesn't stand any better chance now than last month when they stripped similar language out of a budget plan: 4/5/2017
Date on which North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D) released a budget proposal that would expand Medicaid: 3/1/2017
Number of North Carolinians who would get health insurance coverage under Cooper's plan, which the legislature is trying to block in court: 624,000
Amount Medicaid expansion would add to North Carolina's economy annually: $4 billion
Date on which Arkansas' Republican-controlled Senate voted to keep the state's hybrid expansion program, which lets people purchase private insurance using Medicaid funds, with that proposal now going to the Republican-controlled state House where its future is uncertain: 3/28/2017
Number of Americans who've gotten health care coverage under the Medicaid expansion to date: 11 million
If all of the Southern states that still have not expanded Medicaid did so, estimated number of low-income people who would get health care coverage as a result: 5 million
* Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana and West Virginia.
(Click on figure to go to source.)
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Sue Sturgis
Sue is the former editorial director of Facing South and the Institute for Southern Studies.