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Committee introduces RS 31896, a measure to repeal Medicaid expansion for further study
Summary
The House Health and Welfare Committee voted to introduce RS 31896, a proposal to repeal Medicaid expansion, after members debated fiscal impacts, potential effects on rural hospitals and county indigent funds and requested a fuller fiscal review.
Representative John Bandarata, sponsor of RS 31896, told the House Health and Welfare Committee that the proposal would repeal Medicaid expansion. "I bring before you RS 3,1896, which is a repeal of Medicaid expansion," he said during the committee's RS hearing and asked the panel to introduce the resolution for further discussion.
Members pressed fiscal questions and raised concerns about downstream impacts if the state dropped expansion. One lawmaker noted the bill's fiscal note estimates roughly $110,000,000 in state savings but questioned whether that figure accounts for other costs, including lost tax revenue tied to federal Medicaid dollars and county indigent funds used to cover uncompensated care. Several members urged a fuller economic analysis and a formal hearing to review line-item fiscal impacts.
Committee members also discussed the federal matching rate. A sponsor said the state initially paid about $32,000,000 when expansion began and that the state's current net cost is now about $110,000,000; the sponsor also warned federal policy could change, noting that if the federal match moved from the current 90/10 arrangement to 70/30 the state could face much larger costs. Members observed that rural hospitals and county indigent programs could be particularly affected if expansion were repealed.
Representative McCann and others said they would support printing the RS for a full hearing to obtain better fiscal projections but expressed reservations about outright repeal without additional analysis. A member who opposed introducing the RS argued, on technical grounds, that repealing expansion would likely increase state costs rather than reduce them and would harm many residents and rural providers.
The committee voted to introduce RS 31896. The motion carried; the record shows two members wished to be recorded as opposed but the transcript did not name those members.
The committee directed that the RS proceed to a full hearing where members expect a deeper fiscal review and additional stakeholder input. No substantive policy change was adopted at the committee meeting; introduction advances the measure to the next legislative step for consideration.
