PHOENIX — Washington state will be among the biggest beneficiaries of Medicaid changes under the Affordable Care Act, according to a new report from Fitch Ratings.
Washington reported an expected fiscal year 2015 savings of $318.6 million from expansion of the ACA, Fitch found, far more than any other state that reported specific financial gains pursuant to the law. Washington is among 28 states and the District of Columbia that have opted to expand Medicaid eligibility to certain individuals with the federal government fronting the cost.
The law provides that the federal share for the expansion population declines to 95% in federal fiscal year 2017, 94% in 2018, 93% in 2019 and 90% in 2020 and later. States have to pay the difference. States that have not chosen to expand Medicaid coverage do not have to give up federal funding for their existing programs.
But states that have expanded seem to be doing well so far, Fitch said.
"Since the expansion became effective on Jan. 1, 2014 for participating states, there is some early evidence that at least some states are notching budgetary savings," the agency's analysts wrote.
The savings are largely the result of states being able to move individuals previously covered solely by state resources, such as those enrolled in behavioral health programs, into the Medicaid expansion group, Fitch said. A 2012 report by the Washington, D.C.-based Health Policy Center predicted that the ACA would add about 330,000 thousand people to the Medicaid rolls in Washington state.
"These savings are significant relative to the anticipated additional costs for covering the newly eligible population beginning in FFY 2017, and could fully offset that cost for at least some states," Fitch said. "Separately, in direct discussions with Fitch, other states have estimated even more substantial budgetary gains from expansion."
Washington's reported savings far outstripped those reported by any other states. Michigan reported the next-largest benefit at $264.6 million between ACA-related savings and revenue increases.
