Minnesota Health Care Programs Mute Medicaid Expansion Costs

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — The budget implications of expanding Medicaid aren't hitting Minnesota as hard as other states.

Minnesota is one of 30 states that opted to expand the health care program for lower-income residents as part of the Affordable Care Act. Minnesota calls its Medicaid program Medical Assistance.

More than a dozen states are weighing the budgetary pressures of health care program enrollment that has swelled well beyond projections. That effect has been muted in Minnesota, where many low-income residents were already covered by another subsidized program called MinnesotaCare.

State officials say the state's finances are largely only impacted by adults without who were newly eligible for Medical Assistance.

Minnesota estimates growing enrollment of childless adults will result in a $15 million higher bill in the 2017 fiscal year.