The '47 Percent' Number Rears its Head in Medicaid Rejection by GOP

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The Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) came out with a study this week that indicates just where the population is that will fall into the coverage gap created by the conservative-led Supreme Court when it gave states the option of backing out of Medicaid expansion.

There were 25 states that chose this path. And of course, it was the states with a strong Republican foothold that opted out of the expansion in the on-going GOP resistance to "Obamacare." Unfortunately for the GOP, that famous Romney number keeps coming up again and again.
"Medicaid eligibility for adults in states not expanding their programs is quite limited-the median income limit for parents in 2014 will be 47 percent of poverty, or an annual income of about $9,200 a year for a family of three, and in nearly all states not expanding, childless adults will remain ineligible," the report noted.

All watching the political fray expected the refusal of Medicaid expansion to affect Latinos and blacks, which they will, but it was an unexpected percentage figure that came as quite a surprise to many.
"Nationally, about half (47 percent) of uninsured adults in the coverage gap are White non-Hispanics, 21 percent are Hispanic, and 27 percent are Black," the report points out. "However, the race and ethnicity of people in the coverage gap also reflects differences in the racial/ethnic composition between states moving forward with the Medicaid expansion and states not planning to expand. Several states that have large Hispanic populations (e.g., California, New York, and Arizona) are moving forward with the expansion, while other states with large Black populations (e.g., Florida, Georgia, and Texas) are not."
This irony is not going unnoticed by political observers from the left.

"Sure, Republicans are hurting poor Southern blacks and Hispanics with their refusal to expand Medicaid, per their intentions," wrote Sarah Jones of Politicus USA. "More poor uninsured adults reside in the South than in other regions, and the South is where the majority (11 of the 25) of states have rejected Medicaid expansion portion of ObamaCare, meant to help the poor. Nearly 80 percent of the people being screwed over by the GOP outrage live in the South."

Beth Reinhard of the National Journal is very direct in her assessment of where the GOP-led obstructionists are leading their states.

"Class warfare can work in a primary," Reinhard wrote. "But, ultimately, Republicans' scorn for antipoverty programs hinders the party's efforts to expand beyond its conservative base. Women and minorities disproportionately make up the '47 percent' that Mitt Romney notoriously derided for depending on government assistance. Even more significant, blocking Medicaid expansion and food stamps hurts the blue-collar whites the GOP increasingly depends on at the polls, cracking the door open to Democrats to compete for their votes."

While a lot of this can be chalked up to political bickering, the bottom line says many observers, is a continued decline in the livelihood of Americans who can least afford it. And perhaps a continued increase in resentment among those who already feel unfairly limited in opportunity.

"As of now, over two dozen states are not opting in to Obamacare's Medicaid expansion, thanks largely to hostility to the law among GOP governors who are turning down huge sums of federal money that could otherwise go towards expanding coverage to their own constituents," writes Greg Sargent of the Washington Post. "Result: untold numbers risk falling into a 'Medicaid gap,' making too much to qualify for traditional Medicaid, yet too little to qualify for subsidies on the exchanges. We now have a new look at the consequences of this: Millions will likely remain uninsured, and racial and geographic disparities in access to coverage will worsen."