Report: Expanding Medicaid Would Give a Boost to Pennsylvania’s Economy

Influx of Billions of Medicaid Dollars Would Spur Job Creation, Economic Activity

Washington, D.C. — A report released today says that accepting federal dollars to expand Pennsylvania's Medicaid program would not only bring access to affordable health care to 682,000 Pennsylvanians, but it would also support more than 41,200 new jobs in 2016 across the spectrum of the state's economy.

The report, released jointly by Pennsylvania Health Action Network and the national consumer advocacy organization Families USA, spotlights a wide range of health care and economic benefits that Pennsylvania would experience by participating in the Affordable Care Act's Medicaid expansion.

The report is based on the general guidelines for Medicaid expansion under the reform law: While the federal government now pays 60 percent of the cost of the current Medicaid program, it will pay all the costs of expanded coverage the first three years of the program, 2014 to 2016, and its share will then only decrease to 90 percent by 2020. In 2016, an estimated additional $3.3 billion in Medicaid dollars would be spent on health care in Pennsylvania.

The Medicaid “expansion,” as it is termed, is actually a national standardization of eligibility, raising the qualifying income level to 138 percent of the federal poverty level and making single individuals or couples without children eligible for Medicaid in states where they did not otherwise qualify.

With Pennsylvania dealing with an unemployment rate of 7.9 percent in December 2012, a gain of 41,200 new jobs in 2016 is just one of many benefits to the state. The Medicaid expansion would also do the following:

• Increase economic activity. The increased federal funding and jobs created are projected to increase economic activity in Pennsylvania by $5.1 billion in 2016.
  
  
• Reduce state spending on state-funded health care programs for the uninsured. Currently, states and localities pay for about 30 percent of the cost of uncompensated care. A recent study by the Kaiser Family Foundation estimates that Pennsylvania could save $878 million in uncompensated care costs from 2013 to 2022.
  
  
• Strengthen the state's health care system. The Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania says that the state's hospitals absorbed $891 million in costs in fiscal year 2009-2010 for providing charity care to the uninsured. Increasing the number of residents receiving Medicaid would reduce those costs, strengthening the health care system for everyone in the state.
  
  
• Reduce costs from uncompensated care that are passed on to consumers and businesses. Some of the costs of uncompensated care are also passed along to insurance companies, which in turn raise premiums for businesses and families. In 2008, Families USA calculated that uncompensated care increased family health insurance premiums by an estimated $1,017.  By reducing the number of Pennsylvanians without insurance, those cost shifts can be reduced.
  
  
• Increase state revenue. Although tax structures vary from state to state, increasing jobs and business activity generally means more sales tax revenue for states or localities, and more jobs and better-paying jobs also contribute to state income. This increase could help offset the state's own cost for a Medicaid expansion.
  
  
• Help Pennsylvanians become healthier and more productive. Hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvanians will now have access to affordable health coverage, an essential step to healthier lives and a gain for Pennsylvania. 

"The Medicaid expansion is a win-win-win proposition for the people of Pennsylvania," Ron Pollack, Executive Director of Families USA, said today. "It would reduce the number of people who can't afford health care, it will increase the number of jobs throughout the state, and it will strengthen the state's economy."

Antoinette Kraus, Director of the Pennsylvania Health Access Network, said today, "Pennsylvania has an unprecedented opportunity to bring coverage and health care security for hundreds of thousands of working Pennsylvanians, all while stimulating our local economy, creating jobs, and saving Pennsylvania taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars currently spent to treat the uninsured in emergency rooms. We urge our legislators and our Governor to make sure Pennsylvania doesn't leave these new funds, the jobs they would create, and the secure coverage they would provide on the table.”

The report used 2016 as a model, its authors say, because, although Medicaid expansion funds will be available to states in 2014, it is expected to take time for enrollment to reach the level where the program’s full economic benefit is revealed.

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Families USA is the national organization for health care consumers. It is nonprofit and nonpartisan and advocates for high-quality, affordable health care for all Americans.

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