Bentley to Congress: Keep funding for Medicaid, hospitals; more state control over Medicaid
If Congress moves forward with health care changes, Gov. Robert Bentley wants the states to have more power to determine eligibility and benefits for Medicaid recipients, end federal marketplaces for health insurance and replacement of the individual mandate for health insurance with incentives for enrollment.
But in a letter to House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., Bentley also asked Congress to maintain federal funding for the Alabama Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). The governor also asked for at least 18 months to put in place any changes approved by Congress.
“Repealing the Affordable Care Act without a clear replacement could raise concerns among insurers nationwide and cause some to withdraw from the market, limiting consumer choice,” the governor wrote in the Jan. 13 letter.
Health care provides a large stage for Alabama’s tense mix of hostility to and dependence on the federal government. While Bentley and other Republicans in the state have denounced the ACA, over 166,000 Alabamians signed up for an insurance plan in an ACA marketplace through the end of 2016. In a statement, Alabama Arise, a group that supports the Affordable Care Act, also noted that the law prevented insurers from denying coverage for pre-existing conditions and allowed children to stay on their parents' health insurance plans until age 26.
Read more: http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/story/news/politics/southunionstreet/2017/01/19/bentley-congress-keep-funding-medicaid-hospitals/96787186/