Yep, it's all on you.
The politically motivated decision by Republican governors to refuse the Medicaid expansion money offered under the Affordable Care Act is now being felt every day by people seeking health insurance, and the people trying to help them. It's the
dark cloud surrounding the silver lining of a functioning HeatlhCare.gov, and the masses of people now flocking to sign up.
Navigators are forced to tell more and more people that they probably won't be able to get covered because their states, all of which had a GOP-controlled legislative chamber or governor, have refused to expand Medicaid. Lynne Thorp, who is overseeing the University of South Florida's navigator program in that state, told TPM that about one in four people who contact her team fall into that Medicaid gap.
"Those are hardest phone calls because it doesn't make any sense to them," Thorp said. "We have to explain that they fall into this gap where this program can't assist them." [...]
In some cases, those being left out seem to understand, having been left out of the health insurance complex for a while, said Cynthia Rahming, who is heading the Houston, Texas, navigator program. She did agree, though, that her team is "often" coming across people who are part of the Medicaid gap in that state.
"They were excited. They were trying to see what's available to them," she said. "But they're still okay. They know it's just a chance."
But Thorp described angry and confused people who didn't understand why they wouldn't be able to get coverage under Obamacare. Like Rahming's group in Texas, her team refers people to free health clinics. But she acknowledged that they've started to become "desensitized" to those experiences, focusing instead on those they can help.
Florida and Texas lead the nation in uninsured. The two states also lead the nation in
dollars lost by their refusal to expand. Now they'll lead the nation in people really pissed off when they realize that the only reason they can't get health coverage is because they are represented by assholes.
Yes, Obamacare and Medicaid expansion will be campaign issues in 2014 and 2016.
