When Tom Wolf was campaigning for Governor, he said he would do away with then-Governor Tom Corbett's Healthy PA plan, and replace it with a full Medicaid expansion supported by the Affordable Care Act.
This week Gov. Wolf officially announced plans to transition from Healthy PA to the Medicaid expansion. We'll talk about the implications of this change with Antoinette Kraus, Director of PA Health Access Network.
Kraus says that her organization is relieved to see that Healthy PA will be phased out and the Medicaid expansion will be implemented. The PA Health Access Network has worked to enroll hundreds of Pennsylvanians in Healthy PA, but she says that the program has been complicated and bureaucratic, with substantial limits on accessing care and benefits.
Kraus explains that the Wolf administration has assured the public that enrollees in Healthy PA will be carried over to Medicaid without any difficulty or interruption. In fact, federal law ensures that the transition process must proceed without any coverage interruption.
What’s more, she says, the transition to Medicaid will likely save the state government money and will thus be financially beneficial for the Commonwealth. The transition to full Medicaid will be gradual and will take place over the next year, she explains.
