Here are six updates on Medicaid in six states:
1. Missouri — Twelve health centers, including St. Louis-based CareSTL Health, publicly urged the Supreme Court to approve the state's Medicaid expansion in a brief filed July 3. This is the third brief filed encouraging the court to sign off on the expansion, alongside business and healthcare coalitions.
2. Illinois — A bill signed July 6 adds marriage and smoking counseling, opioid-related hospitalization, and increased veteran support to Medicaid — all while increasing some provider pay rates. The bill may also cut costs for Children's Health Insurance Program recipients, as it permanently extends some premium suspensions issued during the pandemic.
3. New Jersey — A revised "cover all kids" bill expands Medicaid coverage to children who lack legal residency without explicitly mentioning them. Lawmakers allegedly omitted such children from the bill's wording because many were up for reelection, according to NJ Spotlight News. Through the bill, families living in the country without legal permission must pay for a FamilyCare Advantage plan, then use a "hardship waiver" to excuse expenses.
4. Oklahoma — After being the most recent state to expand Medicaid, Oklahoma is set on education and advertising as it aims to enroll 200,000 new members this year. Many of the initial enrollees are reapplications, so the Oklahoma Health Care Authority is taking out a $500,000 contract with a marketing firm to roll out the "full gamut of integrated advertising," according to The Journal Record.
5. South Dakota — Two different petitions are looking to get Medicaid expansion on the 2022 ballot. One of the petitions utilizes an implementation date, which would set a deadline of July 1, 2023, to roll out expansion, but organizers have publicly supported participants signing both petitions, according to Dakota News Now.
6. Virginia — Medicaid enrollment recently hit 550,000 Virginians, largely due a surge during the pandemic. The 40 percent increase over pre-pandemic numbers is partially credited to Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act funding to prevent unenrollment and double-digit unemployment, according to Virginia Mercury.