I live in Missouri. Missouri has chosen not to expand its Medicaid program to cover low income people who fall outside of its current guidelines. In other words, the working poor will NOT qualify for subsidized health insurance coverage within the guidelines of the Affordable Care Act.
I am one of the working poor. My husband is disabled and he is covered by VA medical. I am very glad about that because he would be dead now if it weren't for that coverage. He had a heart attack in 2010 which exposed the fact that he had a genetic heart condition, as well as an aeortic aneurysm, which, a year later, burst on the operating table while he was having open heart surgery. If it weren't for VA medical, he would not have had the surgery, and it would have burst on its own. He would have died.
He lost his job in 2005 due to health issues, and we lost our health insurance then, which he got through his job. I haven't even tried to get health insurance on my own, and since I'm considered a temp worker (I am an adjunct instructor), I don't qualify for health insurance with my employer. I have pre-existing health conditions which basically made getting health insurance impossible before this.
So, I should be happy now, right? With the Affordable Health Act, they can't turn me down now. Well, true, they can't turn me down. There's a big BUT coming now, though... BUT, because Missouri will not expand its Medicaid program, I cannot afford to get health insurance. I only work 8 months out of the year. My pre-existing health conditions include severe scoliosis and RA, so no, I can't get another job that employs me for 12 months. I can barely stand to be in the classroom and office the hours required. My scoliosis has caused my back to curve both forward and sideways; my profile looks like the hunchback of Notre Dame. I do my grading and other work while laying down; I'm typing this laying down. And, if that's not enough, I am 54 years old. How many non-labor jobs will hire a 54 year old woman who is disabled? Honestly? Adding insult to injury... If I were to try to get Medicaid now, I would be required to search for a job that employs me year-round in order to get the Medicaid. I've already been told that by a caseworker, back when we were able to get food stamps over the summer, before my husband got his disability. Which would disqualify me for Medicaid because I would make too much money. And, to be honest, it would also cause my health to deteriorate much more quickly than it already has. Only one good thing has come out of this for me... I was worried that, when I got my first Affordable Care Act checkup, the doctor would find things that would be upsetting to me. Since I won't have that checkup now, I don't need to worry anymore.
Our Lieutenant Governor, Peter Kinder, said the other day that he wanted people in Missouri to boycott the health insurance exchange in order to send a message to Washington. I want to ask some questions of Lieutenant Governor Kinder and others like him... You and the others in other states who have refused to expand Medicaid, who are, as a result, blocking people like me from getting the health insurance coverage that could help us live better lives, and that one day could save our lives... Why?! What did we ever do to incur your lack of care for all of us? Why are you doing this to us? Why do you want to throw us away like this? How are you better than us, so much so that you feel you should live and have care, while we should just go away?!