Update from Today-More on HB 4714

I hope everyone had a good and safe labor day weekend. We are starting this week with both good and bad news.

The good news is that the Michigan House of Representatives did approve the Medicaid Expansion bill today. All that is left is for the Governor to  sign the bill which is expected when he returns from a trip.

However, there is a little bit of bad news. Unfortunately this bill will not go into effect immediately. It is not expected to go into effect until April 2014. There is a lot of uncertainties about how this will impact residents especially when it comes to the insurance mandate and penalties that do start on January 1st. Again I wish I had all the answers but for now, I must wait with you until these questions get answered.

Just a reminder that enrollment starts October 1st. Your AIHFS staff, including myself, have started their 25 hour Navigator training in preparation for being able to assist you.

Here is some additional articles that represent both those in favor of Medicaid Expansion and those who do not support it.

Related articles (Remember some of these are in favor of expansion, some are not)

• House Passes Flawed Medicaid Expansion (mackinac.org)
• How they voted: Medicaid expansion wins final approval in Michigan House (mlive.com)
• Michigan House gives final approval to Medicaid expansion, sending bill to Gov. Rick Snyder (mlive.com)
• Mich. lawmakers give final OK to expand Medicaid (sfgate.com)

 

Medicaid Expansion in Michigan

The Senate voted last night 8/28/13 to expand Medicaid via HB 4714. It almost didn’t pass with the first vote 19-18. Since there wasn’t a tie or 20 votes the bill did not pass. The senate went into a recess and came back for a reconsideration vote and finally passed 20-18.

For those of you who are interested, the following senators voted in favor of HB 4714:
Ananich, Jim
Anderson, Glenn
Bieda, Steven M
Casperson, Tom
Gregory, Vincent
Hansen, Goeff
Hood, Morris W III
Hopgood, Hoon-Yung
Hunter, Tupac A.
Johnson, Bert
Kahn, Roger
Kowall, Mike
Marleau, Jim
Richardville, Randy
Rocca, Tory
Smith, Virgil
Walker, Howard
Warren, Rebekah
Whitmer, Gretchen
Young, Coleman II

I will post a basic synopsis of this bill and what it means for American Indian Health and Family Services later this week.

I have also attached some links below for some different news articles regarding this topic.

Related articles

• Michigan Senate Approves Medicaid Expansion To Low-Income Adults, But How Soon Is The Question? (detroit.cbslocal.com)
• Michigan Senate approves Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act in second vote (mlive.com)
• Michigan Senate approves bill expanding Medicaid under Obamacare (reuters.com)
• Question of the Day: Did Sen. Goeff Hansen do the right thing in approving the Medicaid expansion? (mlive.com)
• Medicaid advances in Michigan after late-night drama (maddowblog.msnbc.com)