Pennsylvania Becomes 27th State to Expand Medicaid

A half-million more low-income Pennsylvanians are in line to get federally funded health insurance after the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Thursday approved the state's plan to accept Medicaid expansion money under the landmark 2010 federal health care law.

Republican Gov. Tom Corbett's administration and the federal agency agreed to a plan that lets private insurers administer Medicaid-funded coverage that adheres to Medicaid's existing rules. The plan vastly expands a Medicaid program that already covers 2.2 million adults and children in Pennsylvania.

Enrollment in the plan, named Healthy Pennsylvania, is expected to begin Dec. 1 with coverage to start the following Jan. 1. With the agreement, Pennsylvania joins 26 other states and Washington, D.C., in opting for the Medicaid-funded expanded coverage.

Corbett was under pressure from hospitals, labor unions, the AARP and advocates for the poor to accept the Medicaid expansion money, which became available Jan. 1 of this year. They argued it would cover hundreds of thousands of low-income working adults.

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