HARRISBURG — Gov. Tom Corbett now appears to have more leeway in deciding whether to go along with an expansion of the Medicaid program to cover more people, because of Thursday's ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court on President Barack Obama's historic health care overhaul.
However, Corbett said his administration has not had enough of an opportunity to analyze the ruling to answer questions about it, and he did not say when he would be able to give more information.
As Pennsylvania's attorney general in 2010, Corbett joined other states in a now-unsuccessful lawsuit seeking to overturn the provision in the law that requires most Americans to have health insurance or pay a penalty.
Another element of the court's decision dealt with the law's expansion of Medicaid, the federal-state partnership created half a century ago to help states pay for medical and long-term care for the poor and disabled.
The high court said the expansion could proceed, but only as long as the federal government does not threaten to withhold states' entire Medicaid allotment if they do not participate in the expansion.
That expansion would require states, starting in 2014, to raise Medicaid eligibility to people or families whose income is up to 133 percent of the federal poverty level. If the Corbett administration decides to participate, an additional 500,000 or so people could sign up for Medicaid through 2019, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.
The U.S. Census estimated that about 1.3 million Pennsylvania residents are currently uninsured.
The federal government would pick up the lion's share of the tab, but Pennsylvania taxpayers would still have to pay for a portion.
In a May 2010 report, the Kaiser Family Foundation estimated that cost to be an extra $1 billion in Pennsylvania over six years beginning in 2014, based on the lower of two projected participation rates. The higher of the two participation rates would double that cost to $2 billion.
Medicaid already serves one in six Pennsylvanians and consumes about one-fifth of the state budget.
Beyond that, the Corbett administration has worked toward setting up a health insurance exchange required by the law in 2014.
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