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Opting Out of Medicaid Expansion Leaves Millions of Poor Uninsured

Opting Out of Medicaid Expansion Leaves Millions of Poor Uninsured

One relatively undiscussed consequence of the Medicaid expansion opt-out 26 Republican-controlled states have chosen is where it leaves millions of people. Opting out of the Medicaid expansion creates a gap between poor people who make too much money to qualify for Medicaid but not enough to qualify for the Affordable Healthcare Act. The Medicaid expansion addresses those people, but states who opt out of it are left with about eight million uninsured poor. That’s two-thirds of poor black Americans and single mothers.

From The New York Times:

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.

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