off the charts
POLICY INSIGHT
BEYOND THE NUMBERS
BEYOND THE NUMBERS
More Support for Health Reform’s Medicaid Expansion
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A recent New Jersey Star-Ledger editorial called on Governor Chris Christie to adopt health reform’s Medicaid expansion for low-income adults, explaining in part:
More than 300,000 working adults without health insurance . . . aren’t eligible for Medicaid now because our state doesn’t cover adults without children unless they go on welfare and make less than $140 a month. These low-income people would be newly eligible if [Governor] Christie expands the program. They can’t afford the cost of insurance on the individual market. And most work for small employers who can’t afford to provide insurance for them. But when they end up in the emergency room, we all pick up the tab.
Indeed, my earlier testimony before a New Jersey Senate committee laid out several reasons why the Medicaid expansion is a very good deal for states, such as:
The committee approved a resolution urging the governor to move forward with the expansion. Governor Christie should act now.