Skip to main content

Supreme Court: States won't lose Medicaid funds for not expanding eligibility under ACA

6/28/2012

WASHINGTON — While the Supreme Court on Thursday morning left the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act mostly intact, the court did rule that Congress cannot withhold federal Medicaid spending from a state that does not expand its eligibility requirements under the act.



Under the Affordable Care Act, Medicaid was to be transformed into a program to meet the healthcare needs of the entire nonelderly population with income below 133% of the poverty level.



According to the decision: "The threatened loss of over 10% of a state’s overall budget is economic dragooning that leaves the states with no real option but to acquiesce in the Medicaid expansion. … The Medicaid expansion thus violates the Constitution by threatening states with the loss of their existing Medicaid funding if they decline to comply with the expansion."




Interested in this topic? Sign up for our weekly Collaborative Care e-newsletter.

X
This ad will auto-close in 10 seconds