One of the most compelling arguments for Medicaid expansion, at least for people who aren't knee-jerk conservatives who will reject anything and everything Obamacare, is that states implementing it could save millions of dollars because they wouldn't have to be footing the whole bill for treatment for poor people. That's been proven again by Pennsylvania, which has
completed implementing the expansion.
Department of Human Services Sec. Ted Dallas Tuesday announced the end of the transition from Healthy PA to traditional Medicaid expansion—known as HealthChoices in Pennsylvania—as the last of the expansion insurance plans took effect.
According to Sec. Dallas, 440,000 Pennsylvanians are enrolled in Medicaid expansion insurance plans with the last group of enrollees coming out of Healthy PA’s primary coverage options into Medicaid expansion. […]
He added with the full transition now complete, Pennsylvania is eligible for more federal funding and will realize a savings of $626 million from people moving off of state-funded care to fully federally funded Medicaid expansion.
“That number will grow as the number of people continue to move into Medicaid expansion,” he said.
That's 440,000 people that now have health coverage, on track to meet the projected 605,000 total enrollments. That's huge. But the savings now available to the state are pretty great, too. Congratulations, Pennsylvania, for
coming over from the dark side and taking care of your citizens.