Empowering patient voices through voter registration
While roughly 83% of adults in the United States will visit a health care provider in the next year, an estimated
News
10-12-12 Affordable Care Act Update
October 18, 2012
State Update
State policy makers continue debating and discussing whether to expand Medicaid to individuals up to 133 percent the federal poverty level. Since the Supreme Court ruled that the Medicaid expansion provision in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is optional, nearly a dozen governors have indicated they will expand their programs, while several others have expressed their intention to opt out. Regardless, ACS CAN anticipates a significant number of state legislatures will debate, discuss and vote on the issue during their 2013 legislative sessions.
With the assistance of ACS CAN state advocacy staff, the State and Local Campaigns team has been engaged in education, outreach and coalition work around Medicaid expansion. To date, ACS CAN has submitted written and oral comments to legislative committees on Medicaid expansion, signed on to a number of coalition letters urging state policy makers to consider the benefits of expansion, and engaged national and state stakeholders to campaign actively for expansion in the states.
The State and Local Campaigns team will continue to support ACS CAN state advocacy staff as they engage state policy makers and coalition partners on the benefits of offering Medicaid coverage low income, working adults and monitor activity and proposals for and against Medicaid expansion, including requests for waivers, state plan amendments and legal challenges.
Employer-Sponsored Insurance
A report released by the Urban Institute this week shows that if all provisions of the ACA were implemented this year, the number of Americans covered by employer-sponsored insurance would increase by 2.7 percent and costs-per-person for small businesses (fewer than 50 workers) would decrease by 7.3 percent. For small businesses with less than 100 employees, total health insurance spending would be reduced by 1.4 percent, a reduction that stems from various provisions in the law that help small businesses, including tax credits, premium rating reforms, and administrative simplification. (The impact of the essential health benefits package on cost could not be estimated because too little information is available at this time.)
As always, thank you for all you do every day to support laws and policies that help cancer patients and their families.
Chris Hansen | President
ACS Cancer Action Network | American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, Inc.