Stunning map of states refusing Medicaid expansion. 5 million hurt. TPM

[madfloridian]

The 5 Million People The GOP Cut Out Of Obamacare

25 states expanded, 25 did not.

Starting Jan. 1, nearly five million people who were supposed to be covered under Obamacare won't be because their states have refused to expand Medicaid.

Ohio became the 25th state to join the expansion last month, and more states could still sign onto it. Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett (R) has proposed an alternate form of expansion that would require federal approval, and Terry McAuliffe's election this week as Virginia's next governor increases the likelihood that his state will eventually expand the program. New Hampshire Gov. Maggie Hassan (D) has called a special legislative session this month to try to hammer out an expansion deal in her state.

But for now, according to the foundation, 4.8 million Americans won't be covered as the law intended in those non-expanding states. They don't qualify for Medicaid now, but would have under the expansion, and they don't make enough money to qualify for financial help to buy private coverage. They're Obamacare's other losers, while media coverage focuses on those people whose individual policies are being canceled under the law.

A quick reminder of how this happened: Obamacare was written with the intention that every state would expand Medicaid, the low-income public insurance program, to 133 percent of the federal poverty level. The expansion would have accounted for about half of the people who would get covered under the law (17 million, according to the Congressional Budget Office). Many of the newly eligible people would have been childless adults who currently aren't eligible for the program in most states.

More explanation at the link.

[Shrike47]

1. Governors who hate their own citizens.

These people are evil.

[cordelia]

4. Yep. The only way rat-bastard Nathan Deal of GA would help us is if there were

personal gain for him and his cronies.

[warrant46]

55. Amazing how the Map looks like "The Confederacy of 1860"

[HereSince1628]

9. I dunno about evil, but the seem to be deep into Calvinism

The legislature, in fit of white backlash, feels you're poor because you are a lazy taker or because God takes care of "his own". He obviously didn't pick the poor to be on his team.

Their plan is to not challenge the order established by God but to do God's work on earth. That work being making the unelected suffer.

Consistent with their antiestablishment approach, the 'free-reiners' in Madison not only didn't expand medicaid, they -cut- medicaid.

As it stands, the grapevine says Walker is working on a plan that will put in place qualification based onerous means tests for any state funded assistance for insurance. It seems their view is for a poor person to have assistance with insurance that would protect a family from 'losing it all' that family must first have lost it all.

[stillwaiting]

12. Calvinism is decidedly Anti-Christ in philosophy (imho).

Calvinism is pretty dog-gone evil in its lack of empathy.

[GoCubsGo]

16. The feelings are mutual.

I say that as one of the people my shitstain governor, Nikki Haley, fucked over. Meanwhile, I'm still on the "Die Quickly" plan... Fuck her and her whole vile, sack-of-shit party.

[Zambero]

34. The purple ones?

They're called "donor states", where state governments in 25 states stand by and watch their constituent's taxpayer dollars go to assist Medicaid patients in other states, while prohibiting their own citizens from making use of that program's benefits. These governors and legislatures provide classic examples of inflexible ideology and irrational contempt for President Obama overriding anyone's definition of reasonable judgment.

[xmas74]

38. In Missouri it wasn't the governor.

Nixon wanted expansion and publicly supported it from the beginning. It was our legislators who threw tizzies about it.

[benld74]

77. Misery is the state of state politics in Missouri.

[Major Hogwash]

45. You hit that nail right on the head!!

The Governor of Idaho told the state legislature last spring NOT to even think of expanding the medicaid coverage in this state.

He'd rather let them die for lack of healthcare!!!!!

[geardaddy]

48. Bingo.

Scott Walker is slime.

[rucky]

2. Thank god Ohio did a last-minute reversal.

I'm still not sure how that happened, but only a month ago we were worried that my sister in law would fall into that gap. Federally, she qualified for medicaid - ineligible for the exchange - but too much income to quality for state assistance.

[riqster]

5. It happened because Kasich wanted to be re-elected.

We'll still take it, but let no one be fooled into thinking that the man has changed jus stripes.

[rucky]

6. I think the Jobs Ohio scam will blow open before that.

Kasich will be toast in a few months.

[B Calm]

3. Nice seeing Kentucky and Arkansas in green. Backwards Indiana

with Tea Bagger Mike Pence as the governor has no hope at all!

[Sancho]

7. Florida: the worst governor in history...

[madfloridian]

24. Agree with that. So much harm he is doing hasn't been publicized yet.

He is a dangerous man.

[L0oniX]

26. ...and we thought Jeb was bad.

[madfloridian]

35. Jeb was bad, Scott is taking bad to the next level.

[SammyWinstonJack]

47. Pretty sure little pRicky Perry Texas has that title sewn up.

[Fumesucker]

8. Good thing all those people will blame their state politicians and not national Democrats

Because no one could have predicted that Republicans would screw the poor if they got a ghost of a chance.

[sabrina 1]

29. I don't understand how this came to be a choice. Surely everyone knew that anywhere there

was a Republican, this was going to happen? How about closing that loophole now and making it a federal law that all states have to participate in the program? Otherwise it is a state program, not a federal program.

I opposed all the concessions made to Republicans, 200 according to President Obama when all this was happening. And this is why.

[DevonRex]

40. How can you NOT understand that Medicaid is managed by the states?

After all this time...

[sabrina 1]

51. How did YOU not see the problems with this? So many of us tried to point all of this out during

the whole HC debate and were called names, accused of party treachery, etc etc. Of course we know how Medicaid is run. Did the President? THAT is the question you should be asking. You made my point actually, this is not a Fed HC program. It is a State Program and sick people are now dependent on Republicans to decide if they deserve coverage or not.

I never supported this bill. We should have had a Public Option, we should have had an extension of Medicare to EVERYONE. We were talking about people's LIVES and we were told to STFU.

Now maybe, those who blindly supported it and refused to listen to those who predicted these very issues, maybe at least some of them will stop the blind support and begin to see what was so clear to so many others.

[DevonRex]

54. Good god, Sabrina. Everyone can read what I said. Which wasn't

that I'm "okay" with anything.

So you're embarrassed you didnt know how Medicaid works and you lashed out at me with a bullshit accusation. Again. That's how you always operate. Have a nice life.

[sabrina 1]

58. Are you kidding me? Of COURSE I knew how Medicaid has worked for the past couple of decades

It was one of the reasons I got involved in politics to begin with. It was one of my main FIGHTS with right wingers, who were supporting the lowering of the standard for people who would be dependent on it when they got sick.

I DIDN'T WRITE THIS BILL. Those who did, SHOULD have known all of this. Everyone KNOWS how Medicaid has been under attack for at least two decades and I personally know people who could not get it even in BLUE STATES, like NY, because if they earned, GET THIS, more than $200 a month they were TOO RICH.

Don't tell me what I know about Medicaid. It's too bad the authors of this Bill didn't know about it. Well I have to assume that.

Otoh, the Private Ins Corps actually wrote the bill and we can be sure they did THEIR homework.

We need a National HC System and that is what the response from Dems should be now. 'See, we told you, Republicans have pushing for this kind of Health Insurance 'marketplace' for years. Well, we gave it to them now you see why Dems ALWAYS opposed it. Now, let's get HC for ALL Americans'.

And the public would applaud. But the Ins Corps would not and that is who matters here as we all know. It always was.

[winter is coming]

41. How about having written the law in the first place to say that the lower boundary for subsidies

wasn't "100% FPL" but whatever figure was 1 penny more than the Medicaid cutoff? i.e., if you weren't eligible for Medicaid, you were eligible for a subsidy, up to 400% FPL.

[sabrina 1]

57. Maybe because, as Obama stated at the time, 'I gave in to them on 200 issues'? We of course

didn't want him to give in a single hair-brained right wing policy. And after all that compromising, airc, none of them voted for it anyhow, knowing they could use it later to slam Dems with. This was so obvious at the time that it boggles my mind that anyone is surprised right now.

I would like to know who this president was listening to. We warned about the mandate, the challenges it would receive from the hypocrites on the Right who ALWAYS supported Mandates. We were told to shut up.

I can't find the enthusiasm to try to defend any of this since I was outspoken against this bill all along. That would be hypocritical of me.

[Niceguy1]

52. it should have been fully funded forever

that way the states with budget issues would have had no excuse

[Sgent]

59. It wasn't (really) a choice

SCOTUS invalidated the portion of the law that essentially eliminated all Medicaid if states didn't expand it to include these people.

[Drunken Irishman]

76. Blame the Supreme Court. Obama had a fix in for this but they ruled it unconstitutional.

[CottonBear]

10. I am one of the unfortunate in Georgia.

I will have to work 3 low paid, part time jobs (about 60-80 hours/week) to qualify for the tax subsidy.

[dotymed]

11. In TN. I have called

the governors office and after questioning Haslam's priorities, I was put on permanent hold...I know a lot of people who will still have no insurance and no shot at an ordinary life.

These bastards need mental health services..

[HereSince1628]

15. imo it is a feature of counter culture rather than mental illness

(which isn't to say those within that counter culture cannot also have mental illness that is not this thing or that individual psychological needs don't motivate its advocates and practitioners)

Mental illness is typically defined as cognitive, emotional, or behavior dysfunction that creates distress and/or interferes with an individual's capacity to meet demands of daily living.

The merger of religion and selfishness facilitates the creation, maintenance, and rationalization of a cultural system of practices and and institutions that venerate and promote anarchistic capitalism. That culture also considers poverty, illness, empathy and social concern as flaws endowed by god onto persons not fated to be among god's Elected. It not only is tolerant of social inequities, it endorses the reinforcement of inequity as piety.

Persons living within this counter culture's protective embrace feel no emotional and cognitive distress due to their beliefs. Rather than being a handicap, anti social exploitative behavior of others is framed as virtuous self-actualization, and the vehicle for transporting practitioners to exceptional power and social influence.

[Lefta Dissenter]

13. My daughter is one of those people.

And there's no frickin' way that asshole Walker is changing his mind on that.

[HereSince1628]

22. To be sure, Walker and his wrecking crew will further suppress medicaid

and work to restrict assistance to the poor and modest of means.

In their view, life isn't supposed to be easy.

Unrewarding struggle defines man's condition unless God bestows his blessing

[Historic NY]

14. THey want Obamacare to be a FAILURE...

and will do anything to put a roadblock in its path. They do not care about people period.

[cantbeserious]

17. The Right Wing Right To Death

eom

[cantbeserious]

18. The Right Wing Creating 5 Million New Anti-Republicans

eom

[mountain grammy]

19. Oh, and I thought these states were "pro-life"

guess it doesn't count if you're already born.

[madfloridian]

37. Yep, so true.

After you're born you are on your own.

[efilon]

20. I don't know why Iowa is green

Braindead didn't expand Medicaid, there is a different plan that is waiting for approval from the federal government. My daughter did not make enough last year to qualify for the federal plan. She was a student then. When she tried to sign up, it sent her to the federal plan where she was informed that her income was too low for any subsidies. So, she is one of the uncovered.

[treestar]

21. PA, NH and Maine?

Those are surprises. The rest not so much.

Arkansas and Kentucky are surprises too.

[Art_from_Ark]

23. Arkansas has a sensible Democratic governor

[treestar]

67. What's amazing is

How a state can go one way nationally and the other statewide. Shows that we have to pay more attention to local politics than to worry about who is President.

[Art_from_Ark]

69. That's been Arkansas' way for decades

Heck, in 1968 the state voted for
1) George Wallace for President
2) J. William Fulbright, a Democrat and one of the most liberal members of the US Senate
3) Winthrop Rockefeller, a progressive Republican, for Governor

SInce then, the state usually votes for Democratic state officials, while it will vote for a Republican presidential candidate unless the Democrat is a Southern governor.

[BumRushDaShow]

25. Here in PA, Corbett is an ALEC puppet

And has pushed through much of the ALEC agenda (including assaulting education, transportation, unions, voters, women, etc.) as well as refusing to accept the Medicaid expansion (except now under his own terms)... He has struggled with some of the most extreme teabagger policies however, and has instead spent more time on his own pet projects (contracting out the lottery and State Stores, pushing gas rights for his cronies, etc). I think he currently has the lowest approval rating for any U.S. governor (i.e., even his own rethugs are throwing him under the bus compared to the other egregious sitting rethug governors who at least have local support, as his central PA base is still livid about the Sandusky mess).

[Puzzledtraveller]

28. Medicaid is different in each state

It's possible that some states already included more people than other states and in essence did not need to expand Medicaid. I don't know if that's the case but it could factor into some of it. I live in Kentucky and am a Medicaid caseworker. Our eligibility was pretty strict, one of the strictest so expansion for us was a big deal.

[treestar]

36. True, I remember now

Some of those states were more generous to start with and may not have needed an expansion.

[tsuki]

31. Maine has that thief of a governor, LePage.

[bluestate10]

65. I don't understand New Hampshire. It is under strong Democratic control.

But the state has a long, ingrained libertarian strain that runs through both major parties.

[L0oniX]

27. I and my wife are some of those people.

[Puzzledtraveller]

30. What interests me also is which states created an HBE.

[madfloridian]

32. This link has a very detailed map of that.

If you let your mouse hover, more details show up. For example Rick Scott has stated that FL will not pursue a state exchange.

http://www.ncsl.org/research/health/state-actions-to-implement-the-health-benefit.aspx

[madfloridian]

39. Looks like the states with no expansion returned a million in planning grants to government.

It shows when your mouse hovers.

[leftstreet]

33. DURec

[avaistheone1]

42. Wow! Amazingly stupid and cruel republicons.

They are killing off their own constiuents.

[noiretextatique]

43. it's for freedom

freedom from healthcare coverage

[FloriTexan]

44. Kick

[Starry Messenger]

46. k&r

[Sheepshank]

49. and interestingly enough, the south east quadrant of the US

...the same delineated without the expansion, is also home to statistically some of the most unhealthy communities. Well done...NOT

[indepat]

50. Republican statehouses doing what Republicans do best: pissing on their constituents with

a cruel malevolence and vengeance.

[valerief]

53. So the purple states are trying to get rid of their poor people.

Except for undocumented workers who they can pay shit and keep as slaves.

[Blue_In_AK]

56. Alaska's governor, Sean Parnell, makes me miss Sarah what's her name.

[madfloridian]

60. Well now Blue in AK....he must be pretty doggoned bad.

Give me a link to your Smug Mug pictures. I looked the other day and had trouble finding your site. Last time I shared your link on Twitter, people loved it.

[Blue_In_AK]

61. Thanks, Madflo

Yes, he is just that bad. I could go on for pages, but he's right up there with Scott Walker, Rick Scott and the other idiots. Just unbelievably bad. Totally owned by the Club for Growth. He was a ConocoPhillips lobbyist and worked for the law firm that represented Exxon during the EXXON VALDEZ litigation. Need I say more?

Here's the link to my SmugMug site: http://www.northernvisions.smugmug.com I'm so glad people enjoy my photos.

[madfloridian]

62. Wow, I love your "wet moose" picture. How in the world did you get that one?

http://northernvisions.smugmug.com/Photography/Photo-of-the-Day-2013/i-GtpdGkK

[Blue_In_AK]

63. Luck. :)

We were driving home after going for a walk along the Coastal Trail, and my husband spotted these three moose on a side road grazing along the fence that surrounds our airport. We've had quite a bit of rain this fall, and this area was really wet. I didn't even get out of the car, just clicked off a bunch of shots and got this one with the splash and the reflection. This one was the smallest of the three.

We were kind of surprised to see a male with what were obviously a mother and this baby. The bull didn't seem to be fully grown, but was too big to be one of this year's calves. Maybe he was an older brother, a yearling. Anyway, as many times as I see these animals, I still get excited when they show up.

[madfloridian]

72. Hey...I linked to them today.

https://twitter.com/madfloridian

I went to your twitter and found Twitter had taken me off your followers list....I know I did not do it. I refollowed. That seems to happen a lot.

[Blue_In_AK]

73. I don't really use Twitter much (not at all)

so that may be why. I'll PM you my name and you can Facebook friend me. I'm there much more often.

[madfloridian]

74. Don't do facebook.

So we can keep contact here.

[Blue_In_AK]

75. Oh, OK.

We'll definitely stay in touch here. I'm not leaving.

[bluestate10]

64. Add Virginia to the green, very soon. nt

[madfloridian]

66. That would be great. No hope for FL I fear.

Good for VA.

[woo me with science]

68. K&R

[aptal]

70. K&R!

Single-payer!!!!

[Mc Mike]

71. Thanks for the map and link. Recced, Mad. nt.