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States Face Higher Medicaid Costs under Obamacare

CBN

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States from coast to coast are facing much higher Medicaid costs, thanks to Obamacare.

Medicaid is the healthcare safety-net for low income people. States must use their own money to help pay for it.

Some state governments have chosen to make Medicaid available to more people because Obamacare allows them to expand eligibility.

Plus, previously eligible people are joining Medicaid in high numbers in other states since all Americans are now required to get insurance under Obamacare.

California is expecting 300,000 more sign-ups than predicted last fall. And even states like South Carolina, Georgia, and Montana, which opposed Obamacare, are seeing a boost in Medicaid rolls of 5 to 10 percent.

Many states don't have the budget to pay for the Medicaid boom. When the health care law was being debated in Congress, many states recognized they might face a problem if droves of already-eligible people joined Medicaid

"States are concerned about this," said Ray Scheppach, the former top staffer for the National Governors Association. "It's something they had been worried about right along."

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