Obama's 2017 Budget Pushes Continued Medicaid Expansion

Though it's been labeled pretty much dead on arrival, President Obama's budget for 2017 includes a request for funds to allow new states to expand their Medicaid rolls under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) with a two-year free ride. The original ACA provision allowed states in 2014 to get full federal funding for two years if they expanded their Medicaid ranks to include those who made up to 138 percent of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL). Twenty states, mostly controlled by Republicans, refused to exercise this option since funding would eventually return to the states. Obama's new budget envisions opening a new two-year window for states to receive 100 percent funding if they now choose to expand their Medicaid programs. Observers conjecture that, should enough governors lobby for the provision, Congressional Republicans may give it a second look.

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