The Supreme Court decided in 2012 that the federal government may offer incentives for states to expand Medicaid but may not mandate such expansions.

The law expands Medicaid and Medicare so that people with disabilities will continue to receive health insurance coverage once they go to work.

A less expensive, but less politically viable solution would be to expand children's access first, through a new programme or by expanding Medicaid.

In just 1998, you would not have thought of the governor as a booster for expanding Medicaid.

It would expand Medicaid, by allowing parents of severely disabled children to buy coverage and by stepping up efforts to enroll people already eligible.

And why did you expand Medicaid, the largest burden on New York's local governments?

Budget negotiators did not say whether the money would be used to expand Medicaid, to provide lump-sum grants to the states or to finance some other approach.

They could use it to pay doctors and hospitals, to buy private health insurance or to expand Medicaid.

The Kerry plan would expand Medicaid (which works like Medicare), ensuring that children, in particular, have health insurance.

The budget agreement will gradually expand Medicaid so that it will cover all children who fall below the poverty line.