Victims of lead-contaminated water in Flint, Mich., will have access to health insurance through expanded Medicaid for five years, the Obama administration announced Thursday.
About 15,000 children and pregnant women will be newly eligible for Medicaid under the expanded program, which the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has approved in response to a request from Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder. Another 30,000 current Medicaid enrollees will be able to obtain expanded services.
Lead is considered especially dangerous for pregnant women, as it can cause a host of problems for their fetuses.
“Expanding Medicaid coverage to tens of thousands of expectant mothers and youth means the most vulnerable citizens served by the Flint water supply can now be connected to a wide range of needed health and developmental services, including lead-blood level monitoring and behavioral health services,” Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell said.
Under the expanded Medicaid program in Michigan, children up to age 21 and pregnant women who were served by the Flint water system from April 2014 up to a date specified by Snyder will be eligible, if their incomes don’t exceed 400 percent of the federal poverty level.
The state also intends to set up its own program allowing pregnant women and children served by the Flint water system and those earning above 400 percent of federal poverty to buy health coverage that isn’t federally subsidized. Snyder, whose emergency manager approved switching the city to acidic river water that caused the lead from the pipes it flowed through to leach into the water, had asked the administration to approve a Medicaid waiver allowing the program to be expanded for those exposed to it.
“Providing important health resources to Flint residents will help us better mitigate the risks of lead exposure and identify long-term health challenges,” Snyder said Thursday.
“Together with the health care community, we are working to ensure that Flint residents receive a full range of health and social support today and in the future,” he said. “I appreciate that our federal partners expedited the review and granted this waiver.”
