00                   HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 8                                                                    
01 Urging the governor to expand Medicaid coverage under the Patient Protection and                                        
02 Affordable Care Act.                                                                                                    
03 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                               
04       WHEREAS the federal government, under sec. 2001 of the Patient Protection and                                   
05 Affordable Care Act (P.L. 111-148), as amended, allows the state the option of expanding the                            
06 state's Medicaid program to residents of the state with family income below 133 percent of                              
07 the federal poverty line, which is the equivalent of $19,279 for an individual and $26,110 for                          
08 a two-person family; and                                                                                                
09       WHEREAS, when low-income Alaskans are left uninsured, Alaskans with coverage,                                   
10 as well as local governments, hospitals, and other providers, must absorb the costs of their                            
11 medical care; and                                                                                                       
12       WHEREAS, under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, during 2014                                      
13 through 2016, the first three years of Medicaid expansion, the federal government would                               
14 contribute 100 percent to a proactive expansion of funding for Medicaid services, and, after                            
15 2016, the federal government would contribute 90 percent or more to an expansion of funding                             
16 for Medicaid services; and                                                                                              

01       WHEREAS approximately 41,500 uninsured Alaskans would be eligible for                                           
02 Medicaid if the program were expanded under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care                                  
03 Act; and                                                                                                                
04       WHEREAS a study by the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium projected state                                   
05 expenditures for Medicaid would increase by two percent to support Medicaid expansion, but                              
06 that direct state spending for Medicaid expansion between 2014 and 2021 would be                                        
07 significantly offset by savings to the Catastrophic and Chronic Illness Assistance program and                          
08 from savings related to inpatient hospital costs for prisoners and immunizations for adults;                            
09 and                                                                                                                     
10       WHEREAS, according to the study by the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium,                                  
11 approximately 4,000 new jobs would be created by 2020 to implement Medicaid expansion,                                  
12 with $180,000,000 more in wages earned annually and $2,490,000,000 in increased economic                                
13 activity occurring in the state as a result of the expansion; and                                                       
14       WHEREAS, by implementing Medicaid expansion, $2,490,000,000 in federal funds                                    
15 would flow into the state's economy, providing nonexportable health care jobs across the                                
16 socioeconomic spectrum; and                                                                                             
17       WHEREAS 24 states have already accepted Medicaid expansion; and                                                 
18       WHEREAS every person in Alaska and in the United States deserves access to                                      
19 affordable, quality health care;                                                                                        
20       BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the Governor to expand                                   
21 Medicaid coverage under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to provide health                                
22 care to 40,000 uninsured Alaskans and to bring over $2,000,000,000 into the state to grow and                           
23 create jobs in the health care industry in the state.                                                                   
24       COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Lisa Murkowski and the                                 
25 Honorable Mark Begich, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative,                                 
26 members of the Alaska delegation in Congress; and the Honorable Sean Parnell, Governor of                               
27 Alaska.