Governor Bill Walker is expected to announce how to move forward on Medicaid expansion this week.
Previously we reported an opinion from the Legislature’s legal services department says it’s within the Governor’s right to accept federal monies, which would essentially start a Medicaid expansion in Alaska.
Gov. Walker: “So there’s hospitals on the Peninsula and elsewhere in Alaska that would very much use that funding to compensate them for the uncompensated care they are providing.”
Governor spokeswoman Katie Marquette said he has been weighing his options to move forward with expansion through legislation or unilaterally.
The federal government would pay 100 percent of health care costs through 2016 to state’s that opt in for newly eligible recipients, stepping down to 90 percent by 2020.
In May, during the first special session, an administration bill to expand and make changes to the Medicaid program was tabled in the House Finance Committee for further review.
Senate Finance did not take up the bill during this year’s two special sessions.
