Parnell: Alaska won't expand Medicaid

[Blue_In_AK]

I absolutely loathe this guy. Judging from the comments, I am not alone.


http://www.adn.com/2013/11/15/3177881/parnell-alaska-wont-expand-medicaid.html

Gov. Sean Parnell announced Friday that Alaska will not participate in Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act, describing it at a news conference as a "failed experiment."

Expansion would benefit between 26,000 and 40,000 Alaskans who currently are uninsured, mainly low-income adults without children. It would also help hospitals and doctors by reducing the amount of uncompensated care they have to write off, and would bring millions of dollars of federal money into the Alaska economy.

The Affordable Care Act provides 100 percent of the cost of increasing Medicaid coverage to all people whose income is 138 percent of the federal poverty level. The federal share would drop to 90 percent by 2020.

<snip>

Around Alaska, pressure on Parnell to expand Medicaid has been increasing in recent weeks and months.

The Anchorage and Alaska chambers of commerce, the Anchorage NAACP, the Alaska Federation of Natives, the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, Anchorage Faith and Action Congregations Together, and Democratic legislators and candidates all have pushed for the expansion.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

[Laelth]

1. Bonehead. n/t

-Laelth

[KamaAina]

2. Do you miss Caribou Barbie yet?

[Blue_In_AK]

5. Sometimes

What I hate most about her is she left us with this loser, who didn't show his true colors until he was re-elected in 2010. Now since he's only served one full term, he gets to run again next year, which almost literally makes me sick to my stomach.

At least this may help his challenger, Byron Mallott. http://www.byronmallott.com

[ProSense]

3. Begich blasts Alaska gov. for declining to expand Medicaid

Begich blasts Alaska gov. for declining to expand Medicaid

By Jonathan Easley

Sen. Mark Begich (D-Alaska) criticized Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell (R) for announcing on Friday that he would decline federal funds to expand the Medicaid program in his home state.

“Governor Parnell’s announcement today means he is denying health insurance to as many as 40,000 Alaskans, which at the start is free to the state and eventually would cost no more than 10 cents on the dollar,” Begich said in a statement.

Begich is one of a handful of vulnerable Democrats facing reelection in 2014. He and the others are in the sticky position of having to stand by their support for the law while separating themselves from the nightmarish rollout.

“Aside from the obvious health benefits to Alaska families, the state Chamber of Commerce urged the governor to expand the program because it is also the right thing to do for Alaska businesses and the economy,” he added.

- more -

http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch/health-reform-implementation/190453-begich-blasts-alaska-gov-for-declining-to

[Blue_In_AK]

4. State releases Medicaid report after months of withholding

http://www.adn.com/2013/11/15/3178108/state-releases-medicaid-report.html

With the announcement of his decision to not expand the state's Medicaid program under the Affordable Care Act, Gov. Sean Parnell posted a copy of the state-paid study of expansion by the Lewin Group of Falls Church, Va.

The $80,000 study, provided to the state in April, had been the subject of numerous public records requests, all refused by the administration, which asserted the 60-page report was part of its decision-making process and therefore secret until its decision was made.

While the study's numbers differ slightly from other reports, it concluded that the failure to expand Medicaid would leave at least 20,000 poor Alaskans without medical coverage. Expanding Medicaid would cost the state between $198 million and $306 million from 2014 to 2020, while additional federal funding would total between $2.1 billion and $3.7 billion over that timeframe, the report said.

Pure political Teabagger bullshit.