States must opt into the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion or opt out, the federal government has informed the nation’s governors.  They may not implement a partial expansion.
That was the message conveyed to governors by Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Services (HHS).
The Medicaid expansion, made mandatory in the 2010 health care reform law, has been the subject of much debate since the Supreme Court ruled the mandate unconstitutional in June and instead left the decision on whether to expand to the individual states.  Some governors have already declared that their states will expand their Medicaid programs, some have announced that they will not, and many still have not decided.
Pennsylvania is among the states that have not yet announced whether they will expand their Medicaid programs, although Governor Tom Corbett has signaled that he is reluctant to incur the additional costs that expansion would involve.  The Safety-Net Association of Pennsylvania (SNAP) supports Medicaid expansion.
Read more about this latest decision from HHS in this Washington Post article and read an FAQ that HHS sent to governors regarding both Medicaid expansion and the operation of health insurance exchanges here.