Expanding Medicaid eligibility under the American Rescue Plan (ARP) in the 14 states that have done so would lead to the creation of more than 1 million jobs nationwide, according to a new report from researchers at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health and the Commonwealth Fund, a nonprofit foundation that supports independent research on health policy reform.
Texas, Florida, North Carolina, Georgia and Missouri would experience the largest economic gains by expanding Medicaid eligibility, the report finds.
The ARP increases federal funding for states that adopt the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) Medicaid expansion by paying 90% of the cost of covering newly-eligible adults, with an additional five-percentage-point “bonus” federal match on existing state Medicaid expenditures for two years.
As of May 2021, 14 states—Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Wisconsin, and Wyoming—still have not expanded the program. Missouri and Oklahoma have passed ballot initiatives to begin expansions, but it is unclear whether Missouri will move forward.