NOVEMBER 4, 2013

Representing District 15:
Midtown, University, and East Anchorage

I Answer to You!

Contact my office:
716 4th Ave, Room 390
Anchorage, AK 99501
(907) 269-0265
(800) 465-4939
 
Click here to write me an email
 
Click here to visit my website
 
  

Write a Letter to the Editor
submit your 175 word letter to the Anchorage Daily News via e-mail letter@adn.com, or fax them to 258-2157, attn: letters to the editor.

Contact other elected officials

Governor Sean Parnell
907-269-7450
EMAIL: Gov. Sean Parnell

Senator Mark Begich
907-271-5915
EMAIL: Sen. Mark Begich

Senator Lisa Murkowski
907-271-3735
EMAIL: Sen. Lisa Murkowski

Congressman Don Young
907-271-5978
EMAIL: Rep. Don Young

To Insure or Not to Insure:
Medicaid Expansion

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

You can’t listen to the TV or radio without hearing about the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and the effect it is having on Americans’ lives. I would like to use this newsletter as a chance to help further inform you about how the ACA will impact your life.

This map shows the variation in states participating or not participating in Medicaid expansion

Governor Parnell plays a major decision-making role concerning several parts of the ACA. The first choice he made was opting out of a locally controlled online health insurance marketplace, and allowing the federal government to create Alaska’s online health care exchange. A second very important decision Governor Parnell will make is whether or not to accept federal money that would expand our Medicaid program, thereby insuring thousands of Alaskans who do not currently have health insurance. The question is then: to insure, or not to insure?

Last session I had a resolution on Medicaid expansion. Read my opinion piece that appeared in the Anchorage Daily News, here

I recently submitted an opinion piece to the Anchorage Daily News fully explaining my view on the matter. This piece was guided by my goal to reap the maximum benefit for Alaskans when it comes to the Affordable Care Act.

If the state chooses to expand its Medicaid program, effective January 1, 2014, Medicaid coverage will be available to Alaskans with income below 138 percent of the federal poverty line. The federal government will contribute 100 percent of the expansion funding in the first three years (2014-2016), transitioning to 90 percent in 2020 and for subsequent years.

ANTHC’s report on Medicaid expansion says 41,500 uninsured Alaskans will be approved for coverage

Currently, the only report analyzing the effects of Medicaid expansion in Alaska is one published by the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium (ANTHC). ANTHC commissioned the report from the Urban Institute and Northern Economics Inc. The report has several major findings, including:

·         41,500 uninsured Alaska residents would become eligible for Medicaid if the expansion is approved

·         Alaska’s statewide mortality rate would decline significantly – one prevented death per year for each 176 newly covered adults

·         About 3,500 new jobs would be created by 2017 through expansion

·         For every dollar in funding  from the State of Alaska, an additional $12 in new federal dollars would be generated over the initial seven years of Medicaid expansion

·         $2.49 billion in increased economic activity throughout the state 

The State of Alaska Department of Health and Social Services commissioned a report analyzing the costs of Medicaid expansion; however, that report has not been made public.

The Alaska Chamber of Commerce supports Medicaid expansion

Most recently the Alaska Chamber of Commerce has come out in support of Medicaid expansion. The Chamber listed Medicaid expansion as one of its top five state priorities in 2014. In a recent opinion piece the Chamber says, “Along with the benefits of providing medical care for up to 40,000 Alaskans currently without insurance, the expansion looks like a sound business decision from Alaska’s point of view.”

Read Anchorage Faith and Action Congregations Together guide to Medicaid expansion

Another supporter of Medicaid expansion is the Anchorage Faith and Action Congregations Together (AFACT), stating that health care costs grew 70 percent between 2000 and 2013. In a published guide to Medicaid expansion, AFACT says, “When people of faith consider issues in the public square, they care about more than facts and figures, dollars and cents. Alaskans also care about how best to love their neighbors as themselves.”

During the last legislative session I filed a resolution urging Governor Parnell to accept the federal funds that would expand Alaska’s Medicaid program. Ultimately, I believe that expanding Medicaid will be a long-term cost saver for the State of Alaska. The newly covered would be citizens incurring medical bills that Alaskans won’t need to pay, indirectly, through increased premiums, as presently happens.  According to the Alaska Journal of Commerce, Alaska hospitals lost $178 million in bad debt in 2010 alone. But most importantly is the fact that Medicaid expansion will provide health insurance for more Alaskans, therefore saving Alaskan lives.

Talking with neighbors at last month’s Town Hall meeting on the Northern Access Road

Please contact me if I can answer questions about Medicaid expansion in Alaska or the ACA in general, and as always, please contact me if I can be of assistance to you or your family,

Sincerely,

Representative Andy Josephson
716 4th Ave, Room 390
Phone: 907-269-0265
Rep.Andy.Josephson@akleg.gov