According to Kaiser Health News, States are taking radically different approaches to last week’s Supreme Court decision, since States cannot be financially penalized for refusing to expand their Medicaid programs.

The big questions on every health policy expert’s mind, are “What are the States going to do and how will each State approach two big tasks ahead of them:

• Deciding whether to take federal money to expand Medicaid, the joint federal-state health insurance program for the poor and disabled.  States are supposed to provide Medicaid to a far larger base – everyone with incomes up to 133 percent of the poverty level, or just under $15,000 a year for an individual.
• Deciding whether to implement their own health insurance exchange, a website to help eligible consumers shop for and purchase health plans, rely on the federal government to do it for them. The federal government will help pay for people to buy insurance on the exchange if their incomes are up to 400 percent of the poverty level.

On the NBC Miami News Blog date 7/2/2012, Florida Gov. Rick Scott is reported as saying that Florida will do nothing to comply with the health care overhaul and will not expand its Medicaid program due to the costs to Florida taxpayers.  The blog also indicates that Gov. Scott will not set up a state-run health exchange.

DISCLAIMER: Because of the generality of this update, and based on particular situations, the information provided herein may not be applicable in all situations and should not be acted upon without specific legal advice, financial advice and/or the advice of a licensed insurance or certified human resource professional.

© Connelly, Carlisle, Fields & Nichols 2012