Throwing his arms in the air as he approached the podium, Rep. Joe Lachance yelled, “We did it!”
Dozens of lobbyists, health care executives and lawmakers packed into the chamber cheered.
While the atmosphere in Concord on Tuesday was akin to a successful fundraiser or celebration, the draw was a bill signing.
Gov. Maggie Hassan signed into law legislation that reauthorizes expanded Medicaid in New Hampshire for two more years. With the stroke of her pen, the Democrat put to bed months of legislative debate over whether the state should keep more than 48,000 low-income residents on subsidized health insurance.
The state expanded Medicaid in 2014, but the program was set to sunset this year without reauthorization. The law will continue the program for two more years, calls for new work requirements for enrollees and covers state costs with premium tax revenue and voluntary contributions from hospitals and insurance carriers.
The state needs federal sign-off to implement certain components of the plan, and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has yet to approve another state’s work requirements.
Medicaid expansion covers adults making less than 138 percent of the federal poverty limit, or about $15,900 a year. Roughly 43 percent of the people enrolled in Medicaid expansion are employed, and 57 percent are not, according to recent data from the state’s Department of Health and Human Services.
Hassan said the program is key to giving low-income residents access to health care and helping lower hospitals’ uncompensated care costs.
Republican Sen. Jeb Bradley, one of the law’s architects, applauded the signing, but said work still needs to be done evaluating the program. Under the new law, Medicaid expansion will expire in 2018, unless it is reauthorized again.
“Make sure this program works, continue your advocacy,” said Bradley, of Wolfeboro, “because we’ll be back here pretty soon.”