Medicaid Expansion and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act: Lessons and Hopes for Implementation of Healthcare Reform

Abstract

THE CALIFORNIA Journal of Politics & Policy Volume 3, Issue 4 Medicaid Expansion and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act: Lessons and Hopes for Implementation of Healthcare Reform Autumn Kieber-Emmons, Thomas Bodenheimer, & Kevin Grumbach University of California, San Francisco Abstract This study was designed to examine the perspectives and concerns of California healthcare policymakers and stakeholders about the upcoming expansion of Med- icaid. Key California stakeholders show general support for the expansion of Med- icaid, with concerns about the cost to implement expansion, hopes for increased use of managed care delivery system reform to produce cost savings, worries about provider access and physician payment rates, and support for the recent California Section 1115 Medicaid Waiver “bridge to reform” as a timely measure for the tran- sition to Medicaid expansion. This state-level perspective from California can help to inform state and national preparations for the 2014 implementation of Medicaid expansion. Keywords: healthcare reform, The Affordable Health Care Act, California health - care Copyright © 2011 The Berkeley Electronic Press. All rights reserved. www.bepress.com/cjpp