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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]9:49 ACA expanded Medicaid coverage. But it's state by state, and there are reports that millions will not be eligible.

[/quote]

Yes, millions will not be eligible. But that is not the fault of the ACA. It's the fault of the Supreme Court.

Before the ACA, states were required to provide Medicaid coverage to

1. pregnant women and children under age 6 with family incomes at or below 133% of the federal poverty level (FPL)
2. children ages 6 through 18 with family incomes at or below 100% federal poverty level
3. parents and caretaker relatives who meet the financial eligibility requirements for the former AFDC (cash assistance) program
4. elderly people and people with disabilities who qualify for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits based on their low income and resources

They were not required to provide Medicaid coverage to non-disabled, non-pregnant adults without children. Medicaid eligibility for working parents was also very limited.

Under the ACA, states would have been required to also provide Medicaid coverage to every non-pregnant, non-disabled adult under 65 with an income at or below 138% of the federal poverty level, starting in 2014. The federal government would have paid for almost all of this coverage, from 100% in 2014-2016 decreasing to 90% in 2020 and thereafter.

The Supreme Court found this requirement unconstitutional.

Now it is up to the states to decide whether or not to accept the Medicaid expansion. Not surprisingly, this decision has gone according to party lines. States with governors from the party that opposes the ACA have not accepted the Medicaid expansion. Therefore, people who live in those states, who would have been covered under the Medicaid expansion in the ACA, will now not be covered.

Lots and lots and lots of detail here:  http://kaiserfamilyfoundation.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/8347.pdf[/quote]

It is not the fault of the Supreme Court, it is the fault of the Democrats in Congress who knowingly passed a law that was unconstitutional.  The Congress cannot mandate that the States implement programs.  It simply doesn't have the authority -- that is settled law.  They were warned, and they ignored the warnings, because they needed to use the budget reconciliation process to cram the law through, and that didn't give them time to fix it's many (known) flaws.  [/quote]

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