Employers Could Face Fines if States Opt Out of Medicaid Expansion

California Healthline

Employers in states that opt out of the Affordable Care Act's Medicaid expansion collectively could be forced to pay as much as $1.3 billion in federal fines, according to a study by Jackson Hewitt Tax Service, Bloomberg reports. Under the ACA's Medicaid expansion, all U.S. residents with incomes up to 138% of the federal poverty level would have been eligible for Medicaid. However, the Supreme Court's ruling on the ACA stated that states could choose whether to participate in the expansion. For states that opt in, the federal government will cover 100% of the cost of the expansion until 2016, and after that the federal share will decline gradually until it reaches 90% in 2020.

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