BIz journals New Article "Medicaid expansion wouldn't hit NM general fund"

http://www.bizjournals.com/albuquerque/news/2012/08/16/report-medicaid-expansion-wouldnt.html

Report: Medicaid expansion wouldn't hit NM general fund
New Mexico Business Weekly by Dennis Domrzalski, Reporter
Date: Thursday, August 16, 2012, 10:59am MDT

New Mexico Voices for Children says the state could expand Medicaid with no net expense to the general fund.

New Mexico could expand its Medicaid program to cover low-income adults with no net expense to the state’s general fund, says a new report by New Mexico Voices for Children.

The state’s Human Services Department has estimated that expanding Medicaid to cover adults who earn up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level would require as much as $496 million in new general fund revenue. However, that total would be covered by state taxes on the new federal Medicaid money that would come into the state. That federal money would be subject to the state’s 4 percent insurance premium tax and to the gross receipts tax when Medicaid benefits are paid by insurers to health care providers, said the study by the children’s health care advocacy organization.

It’s estimated that up to 150,000 New Mexicans would be eligible for Medicaid under the proposed expansion.

The June 28 U.S. Supreme Court decision that upheld the federal Affordable Care Act gave states the option to not participate in Medicaid expansion. Gov. Susana Martinez has not decided whether New Mexico would participate in the expanded program.

Under the ACA, the federal government would pick up 100 percent of the cost of new Medicaid enrollees for the first three years of the expansion. After the seventh year, the federal share would drop to 90 percent.

More than 530,000 New Mexicans currently receive Medicaid services.