Governors want answers to Medicaid uncertainty

Now that the Supreme Court ruled the health reform law constitutional, the National Governors Association (NGA) and National Association of Medicaid Directors (NAMD) want the Department of Health & Human Services to clarify the law's Medicaid expansion provision, FierceHealthcare reported. In its ruling, the high court determined that the huge Medicaid expansion is optional for states, allowing them to choose whether to take advantage of or forgo expanding the federal-state program. The NGA and NAMD now have a list of questions that need answers before they can make any Medicaid decisions. For example, the NGA wants to know if states can phase-in Medicaid coverage up to 133 percent of the poverty line after 2014 and still get receive federal funds. The NAMD, meanwhile, wants the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to define "newly eligible" individuals for states that already have expanded some parts of Medicaid to the optional adult population prior to the reform law's implementation. Article