Why nearly 5 million people would have health care if they lived somewhere else.

[madfloridian]

Last edited Wed Jan 1, 2014, 01:16 PM - Edit history (1)

Medicaid Growth Leaves Millions With No Coverage

About 5 million people will be without health care next year that they would have gotten simply if they lived somewhere else in America.

The court effectively left it up to states to decide whether to open Medicaid, the federal-state program for the poor and disabled, to more people, primarily poor working adults without children.

Twenty-five states declined. That leaves 4.8 million people in those states without the health care coverage that their peers elsewhere are getting through the expansion of Medicaid, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation estimate. More than one-fifth of them live in Texas alone, Kaiser's analysis found.

Here is a chart from the link with the states that refused to expand Medicaid and the number of people affected.

HEALTH COVERAGE GAP

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
A list of the states not expanding Medicaid under the 2010 federal health care law and the number of residents who will fall in to a health care gap between the current Medicaid eligibility guidelines of their state and the tax credits available under the law to help people pay for private insurance.
TOTAL 4,831,590
Alabama 191,320
Alaska 17,290
Florida 763,890
Georgia 409,350
Idaho 54,780
Indiana 181,930
Kansas 77,920
Louisiana 242,150
Maine 24,390
Mississippi 137,800
Missouri 193,420
Montana 40,140
Nebraska 32,570
New Hampshire 26,190
North Carolina 318,710
Oklahoma 144,480
Pennsylvania 281,290
South Carolina 194,330
South Dakota 25,480
Tennessee 161,650
Texas 1,046,430
Utah 57,850
Virginia 190,840
Wisconsin 0
Wyoming 17,390

[edhopper]

1. Look at just Texas and Florida

close to 2 million there alone.
Two despicable Governors with a gerrymandered legislature.
When will the populace wake the fuck up?

[madfloridian]

2. Yep, TX and FL make up about 2 million of the 5 million.

Scott and Perry proud of it.

[madfloridian]

3. A good post on how much money FL and TX will lose.

It did not seem to get much attention either. Yes, there have been quite a few posts on it, but it does need attention. In FL so many are really unaware this is going on. There's not exactly a lot about it on TV.

Study: States that reject Medicaid expansion lose money (Texas could lose $9.2 Billion by 2022)

The Affordable Care Act requires the federal government to pay 100 percent of the costs of expanding Medicaid for three years. After that period, the law mandates the federal government pay 90 percent of the costs of expansion.

The 10 percent investment that would be left to the states, the study’s authors conclude, would be justified by the huge investments from the federal government.

“States that choose to participate in the Medicaid expansion will gain considerable new federal funds,” the study’s authors write. “States often seek to increase their share of federal funds, lobbying for military bases, procurement contracts, and highway funds. Federal funding provides direct benefits and bolsters local economies.”

Conversely, states that refuse Medicaid expansion will continue to be on the hook for billions in uncompensated care costs – as when uninsured residents visit the emergency room. By refusing to expand Medicaid, Texas will forgo $9.2 billion in federal funding in 2022, the authors said. Florida, another state that has said it won’t expand Medicaid, stands to lose more than $5 billion.
(more)

[gulliver]

4. Republican fantasy at work again.

Republicans tend to live in a fantasy world where their sacrifice and animosity actual produce results. They give up billions in their economy, losing thousands of healthcare jobs and competitiveness in the process. And for what? Because they hope the uninsured will move or die off? Not gonna happen. Never does. They are suffering and causing suffering for nothing.

When will these kids learn?

[ProSense]

5. Apparently,

"Why nearly 5 million people would have health care if they lived somewhere else."

... these are not the people who matter. Remember the anecdotes about people crying because they were losing their crappy insurance?

Those people are much more important to in terms of promoting anti-Obamacare talking points, but they're losing another one.

New Report Undermines Claims That Millions Will Lose Coverage Due To Obamacare
http://thinkprogress.org/health/2013/12/31/3109041/10000-lost-coverage-obamacare/

[JNinWB]

6. Republicans exhibit the height of irony when they cry about the people who will lose

health insurance and still support the complete repeal of the ACA.

Do they even notice their hypocrisy? The next few months leading to the mid-terms should be entertaining.

In addition to the state-by-state list of those falling into the "wingnut hole", it would be interesting to see the number of jobs that those states will fail to create because of this refusal of the expansion.