Deborah Bachrach Quoted on Potential Medicaid Reduction
“Supreme Court Health Care Ruling Allows States to Cut Off Medicaid to Those Now Enrolled”
Charlotte Observer
July 10, 2012 – Manatt’s Deborah Bachrach, a special counsel in the firm’s Healthcare Division, spoke to the Charlotte Observer about potential cuts to Medicaid, now that the program’s expansion is voluntary for states.
The newspaper reports that, under the Supreme Court’s recent health reform ruling, states have the option not to increase the number of adults covered by Medicaid. In addition, states could also opt to cut people who are now enrolled, since they will no longer be barred from making it harder for adults to qualify for Medicaid in 2014. Industry experts worry that these two developments could reduce the number of people covered.
States could throw some low-income adults “into a black hole with nowhere to turn for coverage," said Bachrach, who is a former director of New York’s Medicaid program.