Service employees union urges Sandoval to expand Medicaid

The Service Employees International Union has delivered more than 300 letters from members urging Gov. Brian Sandoval to expand Medicaid coverage in Nevada.The U.S. Supreme Court ruling upholding the Affordable Care Act left the decision whether to adopt its expansion of Medicaid coverage to the individual states and, following the re-election of President Obama, a number of Republican governors who formerly opposed the so-called Obamacare have changed their tune.Sandoval has not yet decided whether to do so, saying he needs to wait until after receiving the Economic Forum’s revenue projections before doing so.Expanding Medicaid would provide coverage to an estimated 71,000 more Nevadans.The federal government would pay 100 percent of the estimated $300 million annual cost the first three years and 90 percent of the tab after that.“Going forward three years, the state would be paying just one dime for a dollar’s worth of health coverage,” said Mayra Ocampo, SEIU director of Governmental Affairs. “We can’t think of any financial reason why the governor wouldn’t expand Medicaid.”