Federal Healthcare Reform

The first enrollment period for health care insurance under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has ended. The Obama administration announced in April that more than 7 million people had enrolled on state and federal health care exchanges. Here are some updates on what's going on in the states with regard to health care reform.

After a rocky rollout, health insurance exchanges across the country finished the open enrollment period with 8,019,763 individuals selecting health policies available through the exchanges. An additional four million people have enrolled in expanded Medicaid programs. However, despite available subsidies, data released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services suggest affordability remains a barrier to health insurance for many. The Affordable Care Act was designed to provide expanded Medicaid eligibility to individuals with incomes below 138 percent of the federal poverty level, but in its decision upholding the health reform law, the U.S. Supreme Court put the eligibility expansion decision in the hands of each individual state. To date, 26 states have authorized expanded eligibility.

While two dozen states may be holding out on traditional Medicaid expansion because of political or philosophical reasons, some state policymakers are forging a new path with expansion programs the likes of which have never been seen before.