Alabama House Health committee to discuss health coverage for uninsured

The Alabama House Health Committee for the House will discuss how to cover the uninsured in the coverage gap at its Wednesday meeting, said Rep. Craig Lipscomb, R-Rainbow City, the vice-chair of the committee. 

Alabamians making between 18% ($4,475) and 100% ($24,860) of the federal poverty rate for a family of three typically live in the insurance coverage gap. Subsidies for insurance plans under the Affordable Care Act are available to people making between 100% and 400% of the poverty line. People making less than that are ineligible.

Medicaid expansion, which would extend benefits to those making 138% of the poverty line ($20,120 for an individual; $37,290 for a household of three), would cover those individuals. The federal government would pay at least 90% of the cost of expansion.

Alabama is one of 11 states that have not approved Medicaid expansion. Republican officials in Alabama have resisted Medicaid expansion, citing ideological opposition or concerns about funding the program in the long-term.

Lipscomb said he would defer details to the meeting, but that they are having discussions about how to insure Alabamians who are in the coverage gap, and “the best and conservative way to move forward.”