Georgia’s Largest Hospital Association Crafts Proposal For Medicaid Expansion
Posted: January 15, 2015
The Georgia Hospital Association has not been seen as actively pushing for Medicaid expansion, but in recent days the state’s largest hospital association has crafted a proposal that includes a call to expand Medicaid, Georgia Health News is reporting.
The GHA proposal, obtained by the medical news website, asks the state to take advantage of the federal government’s commitment to absorb 100 percent of the costs of expanding the program until 2017. The group says the plan would be both beneficial and fiscally wise, GHN reports.
The plan urges the state to use $6.1 billion in federal funds to extend coverage for uninsured Georgians, with services delivered through the existing Medicaid managed care companies for two state fiscal years, GHN says.
Medicaid expansion would extend coverage to an estimated 500,000 low-income Georgians – and it would turn many non-paying patients into insured patients for hospitals to collect reimbursement for services, GHN reports.
The General Assembly, which convenes Monday, isn’t expected to spend much time discussing Medicaid expansion.
Gov. Nathan Deal has said that Medicaid expansion is too expensive. Deal says that while the federal government promises to pay a hefty amount in the initial years, the financial support would not likely extend over a long period – leaving the state to pick up the costs.
GHN says it is not known how widely the hospital association proposal has been circulated in the industry. A GHA official told Georgia Health News in an email last week that the organization would not discuss the plan publicly.
“We have discussed many proposals on this issue and to date, our membership has not adopted a position of support on any them,” said Kevin Bloye, a GHA vice president. “At this time, it is premature for us to publicly discuss any of the potential solutions that we continue to explore.”
Click here to read GHN’s report.
Source: Atlanta Business Chronicle
