An Associated Press report in Tuesday’s Butler Eagle shed light on a phenomenon referred to by some as the “woodwork effect” on Medicaid, the federal medical insurance program for low-income households.

“From California to Rhode Island, states are confronting new concerns that their Medicaid costs will rise as a result of the federal health care law,” the report states, adding, “That’s likely to revive the debate about how federal decisions can saddle states with unanticipated expenses.

It would seem particularly true in Pennsylvania, where Gov. Tom Corbett has resisted changes in the law that give states the option of expanding Medicaid, which traditionally has been a state-federal partnership of shared costs and objectives.

Instead of broadening Medicaid eligibility and taking more federal dollars to pay for it, Colrbett has asked for the increased funding to be paid as vouchers for new enrollees in private health insurance plans. Washington is still considering Pennsylvania’s proposal.

Meanwhile, the M edicaid roles in Pennsylvania have swelled by more than 18,500 people since open enrollment began Oct. 1 under the Affordable Care Act — more commonly known as Obamacare. State officials say people attempting to sign up for the health insurance exchanges discovered instead that they were eligible for Medicaid — they “came out of the woodwork” to sign apply for Medicaid, at least in part because of the publicity to sign up for Obamacare.

One result has been more unanticipated expenses for states, according to the Associated Press report.

But the impact isn’t all that dramatic. The new enrollees represent less than 1 percent of the state’s nearly two and quarter million total Medicaid patients. And while health care is an exceptionally expensive service, a one-percent increase in the number of Medicaid patients should not be unmanageable for any state.

Health care faces a number of issues in coming days and years — too few doctors and too little incentive to attract new doctors and other health care professionals, for starters.

In Pennsylvania at least, the Medicaid “woodwork effect” is only a minor distraction from the major objective — providing effective, affordable health care — and the policies toward that goal. Let’s not get hung up on it.