Beshear Still Weighing Medicaid Expansion, Will Make Decision Early Next Year

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Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear says he will decide sometime next year whether to expand Medicaid.

Under the Affordable Care Act, states can offer Medicaid to residents living a certain percentage above the poverty line. The federal government will pay all of the additional costs for three years, then 90 percent after that.

Beshear says he’s not sure the state can afford the additional costs.

“And we’re just looking at every factor that’s gonna affect us over the next 5 or 6 years but I think I owe it to the taxpayer’s of the state to do that,” Beashear said.

Some studies have shown Kentucky will actually save money with expansion. The governor says he'll decide what to do in the first few months of the new year. 

After three years, the feds will pay 90 percent of the Medicaid expansion. Beshear says he’s weighing whether the state can afford that, though some studies have shown expansion can save states money in the long-term.