States and the Affordable Care Act

Posted on October 15, 2013 by admin

• Without Medicaid expansion, no insurance for 500,000 in N.C., By John Murawski and Karen Garloch, October 12, 2013, Charlotte News and Observer: “The last time Dee Baginski worked was 2-1/2 years ago as a manager for Walmart. Then a car wreck and cancer diagnosis slammed the door on ‘a whole life in retail management.’ Now, at age 54 and two surgeries later, Baginski finds herself at an Urban Ministries of Durham homeless shelter – uninsured and applying for disability. Her former $28,000-a-year job today seems like an unattainable dream. While Baginski’s reversal of fortune is beyond anyone’s control, the fate of her health care rests in the hands of North Carolina politicians. She is among a half-million state residents who would have been eligible for Medicaid in January had officials here opted to expand that government program for the poor and disabled…”
• W.Va. to benefit more from ACA than most other states, By Paul J. Nyden, October 12, 2013, Charleston Gazette-Mail: “West Virginians will see more benefits from the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare, than residents of almost any other state, according to a new study from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. In West Virginia 81 percent of currently uninsured residents will receive some sort of financial help in getting health insurance, either through Medicaid or through subsidies in the health insurance marketplace, the study found. That number is tied with Michigan and Kentucky for the highest in the nation…”
• Ohio gains federal approval to expand its Medicaid program to cover state’s working poor, By Robert Higgs, October 11, 2013, Cleveland Plain Dealer: “The federal government has granted Ohio authority to expand its Medicaid program to provide health coverage to the state’s working poor, an authorization that would be worth more than $1 billion to the state in its first year. The notification, received Thursday, would allow the state to increase eligibility to people earning up to 138 percent of the federal poverty line, adding an estimated 275,000 Ohioans beginning Jan. 1…”
• 146,000 Michiganders – at least – face loss of cheaper policies under new health care reform rules, By Robin Erb, October 14, 2013, Detroit Free Press: “At least 146,000 Michiganders — and possibly thousands more — with health coverage purchased directly from insurers now are learning their polices will end Dec. 31 because they don’t meet the minimum requirements of the federal health care act. Under the law, each policy must cover essential benefits in 10 categories. Instead of beefing up these policies, insurers are opting to drop them, advising consumers to consider other policies that are now available either from the insurers directly or though the Michigan Health Insurance Marketplace, also known as the state exchange.The policies that are ending were often less expensive on the individual market because they provided limited benefits and were sold to healthier consumers…”
• Local health care changes limited so far, doctors say, By Bill Dries, October 15, 2013, Memphis Daily News: “The Oct. 1 start of enrollment in health care exchanges may be the most visible part of the Affordable Care Act so far. But changes to insurance and health care nationally already are about something other than lowering health care costs or widening access to health care and health insurance coverage…”