Deborah Bachrach Comments on Pennsylvania's Conditions for Medicaid Expansion

Deborah Bachrach Comments on Pennsylvania's Conditions for Medicaid Expansion

"Gov. Tom Corbett Sets Conditions for Medicaid Expansion"
The Morning Call

September 16, 2013 - Manatt's Deborah Bachrach, a partner in the firm's Healthcare Division, spoke to Pennsylvania newspaper The Morning Call about the state's conditions for Medicaid expansion.

The Morning Call reports that Pennsylvania recently unveiled a Medicaid expansion plan unlike any other being considered as part of the Affordable Care Act. Before letting more than 500,000 uninsured residents apply for Medicaid, the state wants the federal government to allow the state to charge existing Medicaid recipients a monthly co-pay of $25 to $35 and for some recipients to show proof of employment or employment searches.

Moving potential Medicaid enrollees into the Obamacare marketplace can save money by reducing "churn," the switching of people from private insurance to Medicaid and back as their life circumstances and income change, said Bachrach.

The plan also could save money because reimbursements from the insurance bought on the marketplace would be greater than Medicaid reimbursements, Bachrach said. That would save money in the long run because health providers would not have to build extra costs into their pricing to cover Medicaid, which is a money-loser for them, she said.

Read the article here.