Lawmakers replace ambitious Medicaid expansion with a study
VTDigger
Lawmakers watered down a sweeping health care bill last week, replacing a provision that would expand access to Medicaid for many Vermonters with a study.
As initially written, the bill, H.721, would have dramatically raised the income thresholds for Medicaid over the next five years, likely making tens of thousands of Vermonters newly eligible for publicly funded health insurance.
But last week, the House Committee on Health Care removed that language, instead assigning the Agency of Human Services to complete a “technical analysis” of the prospect of expanding Medicaid.
As currently written, the bill would require the agency to examine the feasibility, costs and timeline for potentially sweeping changes to the state’s Medicaid program. A report would be due by January 2025.