A new report released by UNMC looks at the expansion of the state’s Medicaid program under the Affordable Care Act.
The report is based on a study conducted by Dr. Jim Stimpson, Director of UNMC’s Center for Health Policy. He says the report describes some facts about the Medicaid expansion.
Dr. Stimpson says they wanted to look at how many people might enroll, what the cost would be and how much federal funding would be coming in. He says the primary benefit of the expansion is that it cuts the number of uninsured individuals in half with the federal government picking up most of the cost for healthcare.
"We found in this report that approximately 100,000 would likely enroll in this Medicaid expansion. And the cost to the state would be somewhere between $140 and $168 million through 2020. But the estimated revenue from the federal government would be somewhere around $3 billion dollars through that same time period.”
Dr. Stimpson says because it’s optional for states to expand Medicaid, there is no deadline. He says Medicaid expansion is slated to begin in 2014 and the federal government will be paying 100% of costs from 2014-2016. After that, the federal match is reduced to 90%.
To read Dr. Stimpson’s study, click here.