Medicaid Expansion Debate Good for Insurers

Some of the biggest health insurance companies in the country are poised to benefit from the debate over expanding Medicaid in Virginia, regardless of its outcome.

If Gov. Terry McAuliffe and the Democratically controlled Virginia Senate prevail, the state will expand Medicaid eligibility to about 400,000 low-income residents. The money to insure them — hundreds of millions of dollars a year — will be paid by the federal government to private insurance companies. Understandably, those insurers strongly favor this option.

But even if expansion efforts fail as most Republican lawmakers want, private insurance companies will still benefit. That’s because the debate over expansion has helped accelerate efforts at reforming the state’s current $8 billion a year Medicaid program.

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Source: Washington Post