For all these "impoverished folks' that have to pay for their insurance that does absolutely nothing for them until they have met an astronomical deductible and puts them further into a hole, I say "why did we not just give them the Medicaid that was already in place"? My first thought is Obama wanted his legacy first and foremost with absolutely no thought of "We the People". History will show what that "legacy" will do for him.
Originally Posted by Cherie
Medicaid/ Expanded Medicaid
The 300,000 impoverished Kentucky folks that I posted about are getting the EXPANDED Medicaid. One more time, if you are a family of 4 and your income is less than $24,000 you will get the EXPANDED Medicaid if your state accepted it, if your income is higher you can apply for a private plan. There are only two states in the South that took the expanded Medicaid that ACA law offered, the two are Kentucky and Arkansas. In all the states that did not except the expanded Medicaid, to get the original Medicaid that was signed into law by LBJ you have to be a family of 4 and make less than $16,000 to qualify for that. A family of 4 that makes less than $16,000 is considered the poverty level.
Individual Market Private Health Insurance Plans - ACA
What you posted sums up what I wrote. The health insurance companies are getting out of the states that have bad risk pools for them and will remain in the states that had a favorable risk pools. Aetna use to sell plans in 15 states, in 2017 they will sell plans in just 4 states. The risk corridors were put into place for 4 years so that the insurance companies can determine the risk in each state where they do business and decide if they want to stay in that state. In Kentucky 100,000 people got a private plan from the government exchange. If cheapest plan in your zip code is greater than 10% of your income you can apply for the exemption and not pay the fine/tax. The bottom line is the government exchanges will be open for business in 2017. There is no easy way for insurance companies to handle a risk pool with majority negative risk. In auto insurance if you had an accident within 3 years no company will sell you a policy, and your forced into assigned risk, which is controlled by the government.
So, to wrap things up, you asked why not put poor people on Medicaid? The answer is poor people are getting the expanded Medicaid if you live in one of the 28 states that accepted it. If you live in the city of Texarkana and you don't have health insurance, make sure you live on the Arkansas side. Arkansas has expanded Medicaid, Texas does not.