After the U.S. Supreme Court ruled states could not be forced to expand their Medicaid programs for the poor as part of the Obamacare health reform law, that is leaving many of the most impoverished Americans still without health care, The New York Times reports after a detailed analysis of census data. Among its findings: "The 26 states that have rejected the Medicaid expansion are home to about half of the country’s population, but about 68 percent of poor, uninsured blacks and single mothers. About 60 percent of the country’s uninsured working poor are in those states. Among those excluded are about 435,000 cashiers, 341,000 cooks and 253,000 nurses’ aides."
On a personal note, I still have hope the states that resisted expanding Medicaid will do so in the future. I attended a health law conference last winter, and a Pennsylvania lobbyist for health care pointed out that all the states eventually adopted programs like Medicaid and Medicare, when first created, even if they resisted for several years. He also arged that healthcare providers will lobby to get the expansions in order to control their costs. This is no consolation for any one person who can't get coverage today, but it's systemic hope for the success of correcting the healthcare marketplace.
Lawyer and Legal Journalist
