Medicaid expansion stalls health talks

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By Jennifer Haberkorn and Ralph Z. Hallow

A proposed expansion of Medicaid, the health care program for lower-income Americans, has emerged as one of the last sticking points in the Senate Finance Committee's health care reform bill, with governors and state legislatures around the country worried they're going to get left with the tab.

Proposals in the House and Senate would expand Medicaid eligibility to 133 percent of the federal poverty level, potentially putting millions of new people on the public health program for the poor younger than 65.

As the Senate Finance Committee's "gang of six" tries to wrap up its health care reform bill, it is also trying to determine how much of those new costs should be paid by the states and how much by the federal government.

The gang of six - three Republicans and three Democrats - hopes to finish negotiations this week. Committee Chairman Max Baucus, Montana Democrat, said he is likely to issue a bill Tuesday or Wednesday, but it's still unclear whether Republicans are going to sign on. Mr. Baucus said he plans to continue to lobby Republican support, even after the bill is released.

Other points of dispute for the group include medical malpractice reform; drafting a verification system to prevent illegal immigrants from obtaining government insurance subsidies; and preventing federal funding from going to abortions.

President Obama's plan got a bit of good news Monday, as a new survey by pollster John Zogby found a large consensus in the country on eight major health care issues, although in some cases the majority favors items not in the president's blueprint. And Mr. Obama's much-touted speech last week to Congress helped his cause.

According to a survey of 4,426 likely voters, 78.5 percent say they back tort reform - tentatively embraced in Mr. Obama's speech, and 82.8 percent of voters think that allowing out-of-state health-insurance purchases may lower premium costs.

Mr. Zogby said the speech improved Mr. Obama's standing among skeptical independents - though there is still plenty of work to do.

"Obama's speech boosted his approval by nine percentage points with the all-important independents - but not as much as needed," Mr. Zogby told The Washington Times. "Even with this post-speech boost, 54 percent of independents still disapprove of his job performance."

The Medicaid expansion plan is designed to extend health care access to more of the poor, a population that often doesn't get preventive care and ends up getting treated for routine medical problems in hospital emergency rooms. If the individual can't pay the hospital bill, those costs get "shifted" by the hospital or doctor to patients who can pay.