As the U.S. Supreme Court continues to consider whether or not it is constitutional for the federal government to require Americans to buy health insurance, what is also being debated is whether or not it can push the individual states to broaden their Medicaid insurance coverage.
It is predicted that the top court in the country will have made its decision by the end of June, right in the middle of the presidential election race.
It was estimated by the Kaiser Family Foundation that if the law is upheld, California will be receiving another $45 billion to support its healthcare efforts, on top of the $55 billion that it will already be getting from the federal government between 2014 and 2019.
Just last week, Diana Dooley, the California Health and Human Services Agency Secretary, announced that the state would be moving forward on the implementation of the Obama administration’s healthcare law regardless of what the Supreme Court decides in June.
The lawmakers in the state have already come up with a form of legislation that will allow the progress of the implementation of the federal law, and these proposals could provide a way for health reforms to continue throughout the state, even if the federal overhaul is turned over.
Supporters of the reforms in the state’s healthcare have said that the lawmakers should create an individual insurance mandate that would require all Californians to buy health insurance, in order to lower the cost of healthcare in the state, and to spread the risk among its entire population.
For more on California health insurance information.