Editor, Times-Union: Federal and state governments must soon begin planning and developing systems to implement the expansion of Medicaid for low-income adults, as prescribed in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Consequently, states will have to establish enrollment and coordination procedures, determine benefit packages and update arrangements with providers.
Most of all, federal estimates indicate that states will bear relatively little if any of the new cost, however though … there are many who believe that because of the deep resentment some Republican leaders have for President Obama and … maybe even the poor … these Republican states may not carry out any parts of the law, and strangely enough … most of these states opposing expansion of Medicaid are the states that have the highest uninsured rate in the nation, and who consequently … need Medicaid the most. You would have to despise Obama and the poor an awful lot to block a Medicaid program, which is paid for 100 percent, and would allow healthcare to millions, while at the same time benefiting the hospitals, and most of all … humanity.
For example, a growing number of Republican governors, including Rick Scott of Florida, Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, and Scott Walker of Wisconsin say they will not carry out any parts of the law, and because of this … would deny “millions of poor people” access to the Medicaid coverage the law provides. However though … pressure from the influential hospital industry could soften the Republicans’ resistance in the states to adding more people to the Medicaid rolls, consequently hospitals, which are required by federal law to treat anyone with a medical emergency regardless of their ability to pay, were left with $39.3 billion in unpaid bills in 2010, according to the American Hospital Association.
Consequently, hospitals that currently treat the poor for free in emergency rooms were counting on a broad expansion of Medicaid coverage to cut down on the number of unpaid bills on their books. Again, pressure from the influential hospital industry could soften resistance in these Republican states to adding more people to the Medicaid rolls, especially since the federal government will pay “100” percent of the costs. Nevertheless, the Republican governor of Florida … Rick Scott … said Sunday that he will not take part in the Medicaid expansion … despite the fact that 25 percent of the state’s residents younger than 65 are uninsured, the “second-highest rate in the U.S”. That was “3.9 million people in 2010”, based on data compiled by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.
According to the Urban Institute 1.8 million Floridians would qualify for Medicaid benefits under health care reform starting in 2014. Elaine Schwartz, a Hollywood, Fla., representative and the ranking Democrat on the Florida House’s health and human-services quality subcommittee said the governor’s declining to take the Medicaid expansion money was “ridiculous” because it meant passing up billions in federal dollars. She went on to say that, “Governor Scott would just like Florida to be wealthy people,” and “If there are other states that offer those health programs, then those poor people would just leave the state.”
