By Jack O’Toole
Statehouse Report
A new report from the Milken School of Public Health at George Washington University finds South Carolina would gain 20,000 jobs and more than $4 billion in annual economic output if it expanded its Medicaid program to cover an additional 360,000 people under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
Under the ACA’s Medicaid provisions, the federal government would pay 100% of the costs of expansion for the first three years and 90% thereafter.
The report, which analyzes the economic impact of Medicaid expansion in all 46 S.C. counties, was prepared for Cover SC, a coalition of almost 200 nonprofits, health care organizations and community partners working to extend medical coverage to the state’s uninsured residents.
“Multiple reports have already shown that Medicaid expansion would increase health care coverage and improve health outcomes for South Carolinians,” said Cover S.C. Coalition Chair Teresa Arnold. “This new economic analysis now equips us with updated data that projects the robust economic impact of expansion to our state. As advocates on the frontline of this fight, it is up to us to equip lawmakers with timely and comprehensive data to help them see the big picture.”
The report comes just two weeks after S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster vetoed a proposed state-sponsored health care study that would have considered expansion.
“I remain unconvinced that the expansion of Medicaid benefits … is necessary, nor do I believe it is fiscally responsible,” McMaster said in his veto message.
To date, 40 states have opted to expand Medicaid, including North Carolina in 2023. In the months since, more than 500,000 Tarheel citizens have signed up for the program, which enjoys strong bipartisan support across the state.
“Medicaid expansion is changing lives across North Carolina,” N.C. Gov. Roy Cooper told Statehouse Report in a July 8 statement. “Already leaders in states that haven’t passed it have requested information and testimony from North Carolina leaders and we are glad to share all of it with our South Carolina neighbors.”
