Do you think that obamacare would be much easier if.....

[Joel thakkar]

we just expanded medicaid for everyone gradually...I mean medicaid was expanded just from 100 to 133% and rest from 133% to 400% were given subsidies to buy private insurance..Instead of subsidies we could expand medicaid from 133% to 200% or even more gradually as years pass and financials improve...


For example : 200% poverty level medicaid from 2014
225% poverty level medicaid from 2016
250% poverty level medicaid from 2018 and so on....

I mean really..a family of 4 earning $95k are not exactly rich but also not exactly the neediest one...

In this way, we can eventually go towards a single payer system.

[daleanime]

1. Which ever way works....

[vi5]

2. Yes, it would be but why does anyone think this is possible?

The fact is that "our side" has already provided an opening by agreeing wtih the other side the teh deficit is bad and we need austerity and less spending. We'll be lucky if they don't shake hands and agree to cut already existing medicare/medicaid, let alone even think about expanding it.

[Joel thakkar]

3. +1

[oldhippie]

4. Medicaid is a state program ........

How would you get the red states to go along with this? Many have already decided not to participate in the current expansion.

[Joel thakkar]

5. But federal govt can always fund it 100% to a certain extent

Many red states opt out of the medicaid expansion because they don't want to pay 10% share...Thus, if federal govt does fund it 100% till lets say 200% of poverty level...states would have no role in it.

Even if we still make it a joint federal-state program, blue states will automatically agree and eventually red states would also expand.