Reform’s regs to call for Medicaid income standard

HHS will create a minimum income-based eligibility standard for every state’s Medicaid program, effective in 2014, under final regulations carrying out the healthcare reform law’s Medicaid expansion. The rule implements provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that eliminated a variety of eligibility categories in favor of an income-based standard of 133% of the federal poverty level. That rate is currently $14,856 for an individual and $30,656 for a family of four. The law allows states effectively to raise the threshold to 138% of the federal poverty level, Cindy Mann, deputy administrator of the CMS, said during a call with reporters. “Insuring more Americans will decrease the hidden tax states and consumers with insurance pay to cover the cost of caring for the uninsured,” Marilyn Tavenner, acting administrator of the CMS, said in a news release. Other provisions aim to ease the application and eligibility renewal process for the program, including a modernization of eligibility verification rules to rely primarily on electronic data sources. The Medicaid expansion is expected to add up to 17 million beneficiaries by 2016, according to recent Congressional Budget Office estimates. The expansion has drawn a constitutional challenge from officials representing 26 states who say they cannot afford it, although the federal government will pay 100% of expansion costs for the first three years and 90% thereafter. The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear that argument March 28