House begins considering Medicaid expansion

(Concord - January 26th, 2016) This session again finds the New Hampshire House and Senate debating whether to cover 45,000 people under an expansion of Medicaid eligibility created by the federal government’s 2009 Affordable Care Act. In a concession to Republican concerns, Medicaid expansion was passed on the condition that it would have to be reauthorized in order to give lawmakers a chance to study the impact of the program before it became permanent. This study begins this week with a hearing before the House Human Services and Elderly Affairs Committee on Thursday, January 28th at 9:00am.

Advocates for the expansion point out that 45,000 people have joined since the enrollment opened in

“Legislators must make the health of the people their priority and stop tossing the reauthorization of Medicaid expansion - a program New Hampshire cannot afford to lose - around like a political football, said NH Citizens Alliance executive director Kary Jencks.

“Moving forward, our state legislators can choose to allocate our tax dollars to cover the small 10 percent of the full cost of Medicaid expansion or choose to deny reauthorization resulting in driving up health care costs for everyone in the state and spending more of our tax dollars covering Emergency Room visits for those who no longer qualify for coverage,” added Jencks.

“The business community supports the continuation of this program because they know that a healthy worker is a more productive worker. The healthcare profession supports continuation because they know this is bringing costs down for both patients and healthcare providers,” Rep. Jackie Cilley observed, adding “Here’s the most important point: sick people aren’t going to stop getting sick. But now they can get treated before deteriorating at a lower cost.”

Both NH Citizens’ Alliance and coalition partner Granite State Progress have raised concerns about versions of reauthorization that include increased cost-sharing -- something that can be prohibitive to Medicaid expansion recipients accessing care -- or other requirements that may prevent New Hampshire from receiving approval from the Center for Medicaid Services to continue the program with federal funding.

Supporters of Medicaid expansion and those who have acquired health care coverage under the Medicaid expansion program are urged to attend the committee hearing at Representatives’ Hall at the State House. The hearing is scheduled to begin at 9:00am on Thursday January 28th. For more information, you can call…you can contact Sheila Vargas at sheila@granitestateprogress.org