This isn't new, but it's a good reminder post-Memorial Day.
RWJF:
Key Findings
• An estimated 40 percent of uninsured veterans have incomes that, under provisions of the ACA, could qualify them for Medicaid coverage.
• Whether or not veterans could qualify for Medicaid under the ACA depends on whether--and which--states opt to expand Medicaid.
• Most of eligible veterans will have new coverage options if they live in a state that expands Medicaid.
The one page summary is
here (March 2013):
Provisions in the ACA would help extend coverage to uninsured veterans and their spouses. While the Medicaid expansion was not designed specifically to help veterans and their spouses, many among this group stand to benefit.
Ezra Klein (May 2014):
It's a relief to see so much outrage over poor access to government-provided health-care benefits. But it would be nice to see bipartisan outrage extend to another unfolding health-care scandal in this country: the 4.8 million people living under the poverty line who are eligible for Medicaid but won't get it because their state has refused Obamacare's Medicaid expansion.
As appalling as the wait times are for VA care, the people living in states that refused the Medicaid expansion aren't just waiting too long for care. They're not getting it at all. They're going completely uninsured when federal law grants them comprehensive coverage. Many of these people will get sick and find they can't afford treatment and some of them will die. Many of the victims here, by the way, are also veterans. So here are 24 health-care scandals that critics of the VA should also be furious about:
Joan McCarter also discussed it yesterday.
More politics and policy below the fold.
Richard A. Friedman:
Mass killers like Elliot Rodger teach society all the wrong lessons about the connection between violence, mental illness and guns — and what we should do about it. One of the biggest misconceptions, pushed by our commentators and politicians, is that we can prevent these tragedies if we improve our mental health care system. It is a comforting notion, but nothing could be further from the truth.
Pew:
From Germany to Mexico: How America’s source of immigrants has changed over a century
Margaret Sullivan wrote an excellent critique of the
Michael Kinsley review of Glenn Greenwald's book:
Here’s my take: Book reviews are opinion pieces and — thanks to the principles of the First Amendment — Mr. Kinsley is certainly entitled to freely air his views. But there’s a lot about this piece that is unworthy of the Book Review’s high standards, the sneering tone about Mr. Greenwald, for example; he is called a “go-between” instead of a journalist and is described as a “self-righteous sourpuss.” (I’ve never met Mr. Greenwald, though I’ve written about his work, as Mr. Kinsley notes.)
But worse, Mr. Kinsley’s central argument ignores important tenets of American governance. There clearly is a special role for the press in America’s democracy; the Founders explicitly intended the press to be a crucial check on the power of the federal government, and the United States courts have consistently backed up that role. It’s wrong to deny that role, and editors should not have allowed such a denial to stand. Mr. Kinsley’s argument is particularly strange to see advanced in the paper that heroically published the Pentagon Papers, and many of the Snowden revelations as well. What if his views were taken to their logical conclusion? Picture Daniel Ellsberg and perhaps the Times reporter Neil Sheehan in jail; and think of all that Americans would still be in the dark about — from the C.I.A.’s black sites to the abuses of the Vietnam War to the conditions at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center to the widespread spying on ordinary Americans.
Paul Waldman:
How Conservatives Will React to Obama's New Climate Regulations
You'll hear Republicans call these regulations "lawless" over and over. Here's why that's bunk.
Mother Jones:
Something Is Seriously Wrong on the East Coast—and It's Killing All the Baby Puffins
Why would the veteran puffin parents of Maine start bringing their chicks food they couldn't swallow? Only because they had no choice. Herring and hake had dramatically declined in the waters surrounding Seal Island, and by August, Kress had a pretty good idea why: The water was much too hot.
Ryan Cooper:
Why a more liberal Democratic Party would help both Democrats and Republicans
Time to free up some policy space for non-nutty conservatives
Seems obvious but let's reiterate: When you slash family planning funding, the abortion rate goes up.
http://t.co/...
— @LEBassett
Adrianna McIntyre:
Some states aim to expand Medicaid on their own terms, and are exploring the idea of charging some enrollees a small premium for the public program.
Those terms, it turns out, could scare new enrollees off.
Charging Medicaid patients monthly premiums — even if those premiums are as low as $10 — causes people to disenroll, according to a new study in the Journal of Health Economics.
Evidence based policy, anyone?