State governments are bracing for the effects of the most-prominent congressional health care proposals, all of which would expand Medicaid and increase the burden on state funding.
Sen. Max Baucus’s (D-MT) plan would expand Medicaid eligibility to cover all U.S. citizens with incomes up to 133 percent of the federal poverty level starting in 2014. Federal taxpayers would be required to cover more of the cost than they currently do for newly eligible people—but less than 100 percent. States would have to make up the difference.