More District residents will be on Medicaid if the city government has its way.
The D.C. government wants to enroll thousands of poor adults in Medicaid under a provision of the new federal health-care law.
The District is only the second jurisdiction after Connecticut to submit such a proposal, according to the Washington Post. If the request is approved, it would switch 35,000 people from a city-funded insurance program to Medicaid, which is mostly federally funded. Medicaid also offers more benefits than the city program.
D.C. health-care finance director Julie Hudman tells the Post that the city began working on its proposal as soon as the bill was signed in March.
According to the Post, the city expects to save $56 million over four years by expanding Medicaid coverage to low-income adults.
