Medicaid growth is slowing after the initial expansion in 2014 among states who opted to expand Medicaid, according to a Miami Herald report based on statistics from the Kaiser Family Foundation "The 16th Annual Kaiser 50-State Medicaid Budget Survey."
Here are five key trends:
1. Medicaid covers 73 million Americans after the rapid expansion among states that opted to expand the Medicaid program eligibility through the ACA.
2. Medicaid now accounts for one in six healthcare dollars spent.
3. In the 2015 fiscal year, Medicaid enrollment jumped 13 percent but in FY 2016 Medicaid enrollment was only up 4 percent and is projected at 3.3 percent growth in 2017.
4. The Medicaid program spending jumped 10.5 percent in FY 2015 but slowed to only 6 percent growth in FY 2016 and is expected to reach just 4.5 percent growth in FY 2017. Spending hit $509 billion in FY 2015 with the federal government paying 62 percent and states paying 38 percent.
5. The state spending on Medicaid is expected to jump 4.4 percent next year as the federal government won't pay all of the medical costs for Medicaid expansion enrollees.