Democrats seek new ways to expand Medicaid in holdout states

Congressional Democrats are pushing legislation that would expand Medicaid in states that have so far refused to do so, seeking to fill one of the major remaining holes in the Affordable Care Act.

There are currently 12 states where Republicans have refused to accept the expansion of Medicaid eligibility provided under ObamaCare, meaning 2.2 million low-income people are left without coverage they otherwise would have, according to estimates from the Kaiser Family Foundation.

The details of how to do that, however, are still up for debate and pose thorny questions of cost and potential health care industry opposition.

Possible options: One idea is simply creating an entirely federally run Medicaid program in the holdout states or expanding the Affordable Care Act’s marketplaces to give heavily subsidized private coverage to people falling through the cracks.