LANSING, Mich. (AP) - The future of Michigan's expanded Medicaid program is in the hands of the Obama administration.
Gov. Rick Snyder's administration this week submitted a waiver needed to ensure 600,000 low-income adults remain eligible for government-provided health insurance in 2016.
The state law establishing the Healthy Michigan program requires the waiver's OK by year's end or else the Medicaid expansion will end.
Under the waiver request, adults who have been enrolled for four years would have to buy private insurance through a government health exchange or pay higher copays and contribute more to health savings accounts. Like now, copays could be reduced if participants undergo an annual health risk assessment to flag obesity, alcohol use and smoking.
Snyder says the program "makes a real difference in people's lives."
