New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) said Monday the state's Medicaid expansion allowed more than half a million residents to obtain health insurance, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
Gov. Christie said since he expanded Medicaid in January 2014, 567,000 New Jersey residents enrolled, including 130,000 previously ineligible beneficiaries. Since expanding, the state's share of Medicaid cost decreased from 45 percent in 2014 to 39 percent last year, with federal funds covering the rest. The governor said the average cost per beneficiary is also lower.
"Suggestions that if we did Medicaid expansion the right way that we would further burden the state budget were wrong then and are now proven wrong now," Gov. Christie said at a news conference.
The governor was criticized by Republicans when he expanded the program. However, Gov. Christie has stood by his opposition of the Affordable Care Act's individual marketplaces.
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