The state health commissioner says Alaska cannot absorb a shift in federal responsibility for health care costs back to the states, citing Alaska’s multibillion-dollar budget deficit.
In a statement, Valerie Davidson says the expanded Medicaid program provides necessary treatment resources to help address opioid abuse in Alaska and is critical to efforts aimed at overhauling Alaska’s criminal justice system.
Since the state expanded Medicaid in September 2015, more than 30,000 lower-income Alaskans have been covered. States had the option to expand Medicaid under former President Barack Obama’s signature health care law.
Congressional Republicans are pushing to change the law.
Legislation proposed by U.S. House Republicans would end a higher federal match for Medicaid expansion beneficiaries starting in 2020. It also would overhaul the overall framework of the Medicaid program.