Medicaid spending and enrollment growth have slowed after initial 2014 program expansion | McClatchy Washington Bureau

- While national spending and enrollment for Medicaid continues to grow, it has slowed considerably following the 2014 implementation of the Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act.

That’s the finding of a new 50-state survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation, .

Medicaid, the state/national health program for low-income and disabled Americans, now covers nearly 73 million Americans and accounts for one in six dollars spent in the health care system after undergoing rapid growth when states expanded income eligibility for the program through the ACA.

As a result, Medicaid enrollment jumped more than 13 percent in fiscal year 2015. But annual enrollment growth slowed to roughly 4 percent in fiscal year 2016 and is projected to increase 3.3 percent in the current fiscal year 2017.

Spending for Medicaid, the state/national health program for low-income and disabled Americans, jumped 10.5 percent in fiscal year 2015 to $509 billion, with 62 percent paid by the federal govt and 38 percent by the states. That spending growth slowed to roughly 6 percent in FY 2016 and is expected to increase at 4.5 percent in FY 2017, the survey found.

State Medicaid spending is expected to increase by 4.4 percent in FY 2017 when the federal government no longer pays 100 percent of medical costs for Medicaid expansion enrollees. State will bear 5 percent of their costs beginning in 2017.