Burgum open to Medicaid expansion reauthorization

The North Dakota Legislature passed a Medicaid expansion bill in 2013. The program is available to people between the ages of 19 and 65 years old with household incomes up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level, according to the North Dakota Department of Human Services.But the section of the law creating the Medicaid expansion program expires Aug. 1, 2017. The Legislature will meet again in Bismarck in January.In a Grand Forks press conference Tuesday afternoon, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Marvin Nelson said the loss of Medicaid expansion would be “devastating” to North Dakota’s rural hospitals.”Almost none of the hospitals in the rural areas will be able to survive,” he said. “It’s just too big of a part of their revenue stream.”Nelson, a state representative from Rolla, said his local hospital relies heavily on Medicare and Medicaid.”They can’t take these big hits,” he said.Burgum, a Fargo businessman, often criticized what …
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