Deborah Bachrach Interviewed on Supreme Court’s Medicaid Expansion Ruling
“High Court Limits on Medicaid Expansion May Be Moot”
Law360
June 28, 2012 – Law360 interviewed Manatt’s Deborah Bachrach, a special counsel in the firm’s Healthcare Division, on the Supreme Court’s ruling that portions of the Medicaid expansion mandate, as part of the Affordable Care Act, are unconstitutional.
Law360 reports that the Supreme Court ruled that the government could offer matching funds to states that elect to participate in the ACA’s Medicaid expansion, but could not revoke existing Medicaid funding for states that choose not to participate. The Court’s ruling recasts the Medicaid expansion portion of the law as voluntary, meaning that states must decide whether to participate in the expansion – and get the additional funding that comes with it.
In the past, when the government has given the states the option to expand their Medicaid services and rolls, states have generally taken it, said Bachrach, who is a former director of New York State’s Medicaid program.
Bachrach noted that about 60 percent of all Medicaid spending for population groups and services – such as pharmacy services – is optional. Under the ACA, the federal government would fully fund the expansion until 2016, when the states would begin sharing a portion of the costs.
“When push comes to shove, when states have the opportunity to serve more people, add more services and get more federal dollars, most states take up the option,” she said.
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