The “wingnut hole” measured: 5 million without insurance thanks to GOP refusal
The wingnut hole measured: 5 million without insurance thanks to GOP refusal
By Ryan Cooper
December 31 at 2:42 pm
Because of the decision on Obamacare by the Supreme Court, which left the decision to expand Medicaid (a key part of Obamacare) up to the individual states, most Republican-controlled states refused said expansion, leaving substantial portions of the citizenry in the lurch.
Ed Kilgore has been calling this the wingnut hole, and many have been speculating about its size. How many Americans will go without health insurance simply because the GOP dislikes the president? Well, happy 2014, dear readers: initial estimates are in, and we have 5 million lucky winners!
About 5 million people will be without health care next year that they would have gotten simply if they lived somewhere else in America. . . . The court effectively left it up to states to decide whether to open Medicaid, the federal-state program for the poor and disabled, to more people, primarily poor working adults without children. . . .
Twenty-five states declined. That leaves 4.8 million people in those states without the health care coverage that their peers elsewhere are getting through the expansion of Medicaid, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation estimate. More than one-fifth of them live in Texas alone, Kaisers analysis found.
More:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2013/12/31/the-wingnut-hole-measured-5-million-without-insurance-thanks-to-gop-medicaid-refusal/
Berlum
(7,044 posts)GeorgeGist
(25,321 posts)Bill USA
(6,436 posts)Aristus
(66,377 posts)states to move to the more enlightened 21st Century states. It can't be easy to just pack up and move...
benld74
(9,904 posts)jsr
(7,712 posts)Ikonoklast
(23,973 posts)here was their families wanted the opportunity to...Oh, wait a minute...
rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)catbyte
(34,390 posts)bagger legislature and expanded Medicaid. He saw the writing on the wall and is worried about re-election.
NewJeffCT
(56,828 posts)not really.
I think a couple of Republics chose expanded Medicaid, but most declined.
DreamSmoker
(841 posts)Keep in mind these as many states have been gerrymandered.. So its up to those Folks..
Also the Republicans control some of the Poorest States in the Union....
vinny9698
(1,016 posts)Poor states = GOP mantra
NewJeffCT
(56,828 posts)low taxes are always better than things like a clean environment and good schools.