Big Costs to States in Medicaid Expansion

Expenses start soaring in 2019

Under the Supreme Court's ruling on the Affordable Care Act (ACA), states may choose to expand their Medicaid populations to include individuals below 138 percent of the federal poverty level, with the federal government picking up 100 percent of payments for the first three years and then rolling back federal payments. This structure is designed to be attractive to the states, since it appears to increase health coverage at little or no state-level cost.

However, the expansion would be very expensive to states as early as 2019.