Minor Medicaid Enrollment Growth Precedes Big Increase in 2014

Minor Medicaid Enrollment Growth Precedes Big Increase in 2014

By Rebecca Adams, CQ HealthBeat Associate Editor

The growth in Medicaid enrollment slowed to 2.5 percent in fiscal 2013, the lowest rate of growth in six years, just before enrollment is expected to swell, according to a new report by the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation.

Enrollment growth in 2014 is expected to balloon by 8.8 percent on average, said the report, which was prepared with the help of Health Management Associates.

The growth in fiscal 2014 is due to the health care law. Some of the increase will come about because about half of the states have decided to broaden eligibility next year, but more people are expected to enroll even in states that will not expand Medicaid because they will learn that they qualify for benefits under the traditional Medicaid program.

Total federal and state Medicaid spending increased at an average annual rate of 3.8 percent across all states, which the report called “relatively modest compared to historical growth rates.” The state share of Medicaid spending increased by 3.1 percent in fiscal 2013.

Until the health care law benefits kick in, state Medicaid programs have been banned by federal law from making eligibility cuts. A total of 18 states actually increased eligibility or made enrollment changes that benefitted applicants during fiscal 2013, said the report. Five states with a budget deficit cut back on eligibility in fiscal 2013 for adults with incomes above 133 percent of the poverty line. Those kinds of cuts were allowed under the law.

Medicaid provides health and long-term care coverage to more than 66 million low-income people in the United States, said the study, and accounts for one in six dollars of all health care spending in the nation.

Kaiser report (PDF)  (sent yesterday)