Michigan Governor Rick Snyder announced Wednesday that he supports using the federal health care reform law to close a large gap in Medicaid coverage in his state. According to an article in the Detroit Free Press: “Snyder gave his unconditional support for an expansion of Medicaid to include about 450,000 more uninsured, low income Michiganders into the program.”At a news conference, Snyder said, “This is very exciting today, we’re moving forward with care for people who need it.” The press conference was attended by a broad range of advocates for the expansion, including including the Michigan Health and Hospital Association, State Medical Society, Michigan Association of Health Plans, AARP of Michigan, Michigan Primary Care Association, Michigan Osteopathic Association, and the Michigan Association of Community Mental Health Boards.
A report released in October by the Ann Arbor-based Center for Healthcare Research and Transformation concluded that Michigan would save more than $1 billion in the next ten years as the federal government picks up the cost for health care for those who currently are not covered by insurance.
Synder becomes the sixth GOP governor to publicly support using the ACA funding to close the gap in Medicaid coverage for low-income adults – joining the governors of Arizona, Ohio, Nevada, New Mexico, and North Dakota.
Governor Walker still hasn’t indicated what he plans to do, but he said on his Facebook page late Tuesday that he has reservations about using the opportunity provided by the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to improve BadgerCare, because he believes “long-term funding is highly uncertain.” See the response to that point by David Riemer of Community Advocates.
In other news today, Walker announced a number of initiatives he plans to include in the budget bill to improve access to mental health care services. Read more in the Wisconsin Budget Project Blog.
Jon Peacock
