Medicaid Expansion Gap Could Leave Poor Shortchanged

The decision of some states not to expand Medicaid means that the nation's poorest — those the Affordable Care Act would have helped the most — may not receive any help at all.

That's because the 2010 law was written to provide Medicaid coverage for those making less than 100% of the federal poverty level, $23,550 for a family of four, in all 50 states. Because those Americans were to get Medicaid coverage, they were not made eligible for the federal tax subsidies that would help them pay for health insurance they will be required to buy.

However, when the Supreme Court ruled last year that the requirement for most uninsured Americans to buy insurance was constitutional, it also ruled that the states did not have to expand Medicaid to continue receiving federal funds for their existing programs.

Read the full story here: http://usat.ly/1fC8Ybz

Source: USA Today