Power

Pennsylvania Auditor General to Investigate $48 Million Spent on Corbett’s Medicaid Expansion Alternative

Pennsylvania officials will look into $48 million in undisclosed spending in the roll out of Healthy PA, the state’s alternative to Medicaid expansion.

Pennsylvania officials will look into $48 million in undisclosed spending in the roll out of Healthy PA, the state’s alternative to Medicaid expansion. Audit via Shutterstock

Pennsylvania officials on Monday announced that they are looking into $48 million in undisclosed spending in the roll out of Healthy PA, the state’s alternative to Medicaid expansion.

In a letter to Republican Gov. Tom Corbett, state Auditor General Eugene DePasquale said he wanted a “detailed accounting” of how the $48 million in state and federal money was spent.

The DePasquale audit is apparently a response to an article in a local newspaper that quoted the Corbett administration citing the $48 million figure.

The Obama administration in August gave the green light to Corbett’s answer to Medicaid reform under the Affordable Care Act. Healthy PA, as it’s called, doesn’t actually expand the federally funded insurance program for low-income residents, but instead uses federal money to subsidize payments toward private insurance plans.

Healthy PA includes some reforms to the Medicaid plans offered in the state. Among the reforms is a reduction in the number of available Medicaid plans from 14 to two.

Health insurance companies will now be allowed to charge premiums on Medicaid coverage for anyone whose income is more than 100 percent of the federal poverty level–$11,670 for an individual and $15,730 for a family of two.

Earlier versions of the reform would have created even harsher restrictions, including an eligibility requirement that unemployed people prove they are actively seeking work before accessing Medicaid.

Critics say that even though some half million uninsured Pennsylvania residents will be able to purchase health insurance under Healthy PA, many other people will lose their Medicaid insurance because of the cutbacks.

Neal Bisno, president of Service Employees International Union-Healthcare in Pennsylvania, criticized Corbett for “choosing a costly and complicated” method of health-care reform “that not only squandered taxpayer dollars, but also aims to reduce benefits for 1.2 million seniors, pregnant women and people with disabilities that currently receive Medicaid.”

“Imagine what $48 million could have offered this past year for the hundreds of thousands of uninsured Pennsylvanians in the way of doctor visits, medications and life-saving care” Bisno said in a statement on the SEIU Healthcare website.

This November, Corbett faces a tough race against Democratic challenger Tom Wolf. A recent poll found Corbett trailing Wolf by 25 points. Wolf has said that if elected he will fully expand Medicaid in the ways set out by the Affordable Care Act, calling into question what would happen to Corbett’s new rules.