Spang
05-27-2010, 02:53 AM
WASHINGTON - Indiana's Medicaid costs could increase by as much as 5 percent because of the federal health care overhaul, according to estimates released today by the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health policy research group.
That spending will result in a much bigger increase in the number of Hoosiers on Medicaid - a jump of between 29 percent and 42 percent - because the federal government is picking up most of the additional cost for the required expansion.
"For a relatively small investment of state dollars, states could see huge returns in terms of additional coverage for their lowest-income residents, with federal dollars covering the bulk of the bill," said Diane Rowland, executive vice president of the foundation.
Still, the additional cost to Indiana could be between $478 million and $899 million between 2014 and 2019. Gov. Mitch Daniels, who has projected a bigger increase, has said the state can't afford the expansion.
"In any scenario, the cost of federal health care reform will create an enormous new burden for the taxpayers of Indiana," Daniels wrote to two of the state's federal lawmakers recently.
The Source (http://www.jconline.com/article/20100526/NEWS02/100526017/)
That spending will result in a much bigger increase in the number of Hoosiers on Medicaid - a jump of between 29 percent and 42 percent - because the federal government is picking up most of the additional cost for the required expansion.
"For a relatively small investment of state dollars, states could see huge returns in terms of additional coverage for their lowest-income residents, with federal dollars covering the bulk of the bill," said Diane Rowland, executive vice president of the foundation.
Still, the additional cost to Indiana could be between $478 million and $899 million between 2014 and 2019. Gov. Mitch Daniels, who has projected a bigger increase, has said the state can't afford the expansion.
"In any scenario, the cost of federal health care reform will create an enormous new burden for the taxpayers of Indiana," Daniels wrote to two of the state's federal lawmakers recently.
The Source (http://www.jconline.com/article/20100526/NEWS02/100526017/)