Louisiana is the 31st state—and the first in the Deep South—to extend Medicaid coverage under the Affordable Care Act to adults with incomes up to 138% of poverty. The expansion, fully supported by the federal government through this year, will be partly paid for in future years by fees levied on Louisiana hospitals, estimated at $27 million in the first year and $120 million by year five.
Edwards predicted four or five other Southern states will follow Louisiana in expanding Medicaid if Hillary Clinton and the Democrats win the November elections. “If it becomes obvious the Affordable Care Act won't be repealed, a number of states will opt into the expansion fairly quickly,” he told a group of reporters in Baton Rouge last week.
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