The Trump administration will pay New York and Minnesota close to half a billion dollars this year after the two states sued over lost federal funding for programs that provide health care to tens of thousands of low-income residents.
The two states are the only ones in the country to create “Basic Health Programs,” an option for states created by the Affordable Care Act. Under such programs, people earning between 138 percent and 200 percent of the federal poverty level -- the population earning slightly too much to be eligible for Medicaid -- receive their health coverage from the state. That is about 738,000 people in New York and 84,000 people in Minnesota.
