- N. J. Medicaid fiasco: Thousands stranded without coverage, no fix in sight, By Kathleen O’ Brien, December 23, 2014, Star-Ledger: “The doctor was perfectly clear after examining Aurora Blackwell’s son this fall: The boy needed to get to an emergency room for his worsening digestive problems. Instead, Blackwell took the 4-year-old home and treated him herself — first with prune juice, then suppositories. Why would the devoted young mother of two ignore her pediatrician’s advice? Because the Burlington County woman knew that despite 10 months of phone calls, emails and letters, her family still lacked health insurance. ‘I feel helpless,’ she’d written two months earlier in a plea to Gov. Chris Christie. ‘How much longer do we have to wait?’ The meltdown of the federal government’s website tied to the Affordable Care Act has been well documented. But in New Jersey, something far worse was happening as the state expanded Medicaid access under Obamacare, an NJ Advance Media investigation has found…”
- Medicaid extension again on Kasich agenda, By Catherine Candisky, December 23, 2014, Columbus Dispatch: “Nearly one year after Ohio expanded Medicaid coverage for poor adults, Gov. John Kasich again faces uncertainty as he seeks approval from the Republican-led legislature to extend new eligibility guidelines for two more years. The governor and other supporters say lives are at stake. As of October, more than 430,000 poor Ohioans had gained health coverage under the expansion paid through federal funding available through the Affordable Care Act…”
Poverty-related issues in the news, from the Institute for Research on Poverty