Klein: A ‘Huge Win’ For Obamacare

Ezra Klein points out one “huge win,” as he puts it, in Obamacare signups, and that is the number of poor people who will now get Medicaid. In October and November more than 4 million signed up, and the December numbers haven’t even come in yet.

It’s “the biggest ACA success story that has not yet been told,” says Ron Pollack, head of Families USA, a nonpartisan health-care advocacy group.

And it could have been an even bigger success. Although the federal government foots 100 percent of the costs for the first three years, and 90 percent of the costs thereafter, about half the states have refused to expand Medicaid. If all states participated, more than 5 million more low-income people would be eligible.

If the point of health-care reform is covering people who need health insurance, the expansion in Medicaid coverage should be a huge win. The people qualifying for Medicaid are, on average, poorer, sicker and more desperate than the people signing up for private insurance. Instead, it’s rarely mentioned, and when it is mentioned, it often seems, somehow, not to count.

By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.