GOP/MEDICAID/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “President Donald Trump last year shut down a push by several Republican governors and administration officials to allow states to offer a partial expansion of Medicaid, a change that would cover fewer Americans than required under the Affordable Care Act. Eight months later, the policy is now ‘under review,’ said Seema Verma, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. In a new interview for POLITICO’s Women Rule podcast, Verma, who was among the officials advocating for the change last year, emphasized that she supports state flexibility in deciding how to administer Medicaid…Under the Affordable Care Act, Medicaid was expanded to cover all Americans who earn up to 138 percent of the federal poverty line. In 2012, however, the Supreme Court ruled that states have the right to opt out of the expansion. Any state that wishes to expand Medicaid would receive the federal funding for it; those states that choose not to will not lose their existing Medicaid funding. After Trump took office, Verma and other administration officials joined with a number of Republican governors in seeking to change the rules so that states could offer a partial Medicaid expansion — covering only individuals who make up to 100 percent of the poverty line, for instance — while still receiving full federal funding.”
–Zach Stanton, “Seema Verma: Medicaid reform rejected by Trump is ‘under review’,” Politico, March 13, 2019 5:05 am