Touring the state Monday, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett unveiled a new healthcare agenda with a proposal to expand Medicaid eligibility through private health plans, if the federal government is open to new cost-sharing and work requirements.
Corbett, a Republican facing reelection, said he'd seek an agreement with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to align Medicaid benefits with commercial insurance and federal essential health benefit regulations, and to introduce a cost-sharing model for current adult Medicaid beneficiaries that replaces co-payments with monthly premiums on a $0 to $25 sliding scale.
Corbett also wants to require unemployed working-age Medicaid beneficiaries to actively search for work, "with limited exceptions," as part of competing job training or using the Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry's career assistance service and job postings.
"If the federal government grants Pennsylvania the ability to implement these reforms and achieve significant cost savings, Pennsylvania will work with the federal government to use federal funds and give approximately 520,000 additional low-income Pennsylvanians the ability to enroll in private health insurance plans through the federal health insurance exchange," Corbett said in a media release, proposing a model similar to Arkansas.
In Pennsylvania, Medicaid costs currently account for 27 percent of the annual general fund, with one in six residents enrolled in the program, and Corbett said using the so-called private Medicaid expansion could shield Pennsylvania from the risk of Congress ending up deciding not to fund the costs of the newly eligible beneficiaries.
"Allowing access to private coverage, versus an expansion of Medicaid, would be more quickly implemented, require less bureaucracy, offer more provider options, and protect state programs," Corbett said, staking out the idea as distinct from the Affordable Care Act's prescription for expanded Medicaid access.
Corbett, a former two-time attorney general, is proposing several other changes to publicly-funded healthcare programs in Pennsylvania, such as eliminating the Children's Health Insurance Program's mandatory six-month waiting period, and seeking federal funding for community-based, primary health clinics.
Corbett also mentioned that he wants to create a state-based Long-Term Care Commission -- just as the national commission on long-term care is releasing its recommendations -- and he reiterated support for a medical malpractice "Apology Rule" bill in the state Senate that would allow providers to make "benevolent gestures" prior to the start of litigation or mediation without having those statements cited against them.
The Pennsylvania Medical Society, the Hospital and Health System Association of Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania Association of Area Agencies on Aging and the Insurance Federation of Pennsylvania lent their support to Corbett's plan, and he later toured an ER triage unit and primary care center at PinnacleHealth's Harrisburg Hospital.