January 6, 2011: In his first official act as Minnesota Governor, Mark Dayton ordered an expansion of Medicaid coverage for poor Minnesotans yesterday.
It is projected that the expansion will immediately add 95,000 childless adults with incomes at or below 75 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL) to the state’s Medicaid rolls. These new enrollees will primarily transition from state-funded health care programs (MinnesotaCare and General Assistance Medical Care), with a smaller portion coming from the uninsured population. The federal government will cover half the cost of covering this new Medicaid population until 2014, at which point the federal government will begin funding the entire cost.
About Early Expansion
In 2014, states will be required to cover all individuals at or below 133 percent FPL in Medicaid, but federal funding is available under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) for states that enroll this population, or portions of it, before 2014. States can enact an early expansion without applying for a waiver of Medicaid rules, as had been previously required. States will receive their regular FMAP (in Minnesota’s case, 50 percent) for newly-eligible enrollees until the nationwide expansion goes into effect in 2014, at which time the federal government will cover the full cost.
Connecticut is thus far the only other state besides Minnesota to exercise the option to extend Medicaid coverage to low-income childless adults ahead of the 2014 mandated expansion.