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Who’s On the ObamaCare Chopping Block?

The immoral funding formula of ObamaCare’s Medicaid expansion puts the neediest patients at risk.

From Jonathan Ingram’s report:

“But for us Democrats, ObamaCare is a badge of honor. Because no matter who you are, what stage of life you’re in, this law is a good thing.” Kathleen Sebelius, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, 2012 Democratic National Convention, 9/4/2012

Then-Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius extolled the virtues of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare) during her address at the 2012 Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina. The quote above captures the essence of her remarks.

Too bad it’s false.

Medicaid expansion—one of the keystones of ObamaCare—is anything but “a good thing” for the patients already relying on the Medicaid safety net. These truly vulnerable patients face second-class care as a new Medicaid expansion population is rushed to the front of the line. But what does this expansion population really look like? And what will be the impact of ObamaCare’s expansion on the needy patients who count on Medicaid to survive?

Able-bodied, working-age adults; almost all of whom (82 percent) have no children to support, nearly half of whom (45 percent) do not work, many of whom (35 percent) with a record of run-ins with the criminal justice system. ObamaCare has picked this population as the winner of its Medicaid expansion.

The losers? Low-income children, poor moms, the elderly, the blind, the disabled. The very people Medicaid was created to protect. And what do these ObamaCare losers have in store for them? States that previously expanded Medicaid had to eliminate coverage for life-saving organ transplants, overload waitlists for services, cap enrollment and raise patient costs, all because promises were broken and costs exceeded projections.

ObamaCare’s Medicaid expansion is hardly “a good thing” for our most vulnerable patients. But the good news is states have a choice. They can protect their neediest patients who already rely on Medicaid by rejecting ObamaCare’s expansion. Or they can push those needy patients to the back of the line to make room for ObamaCare’s expansion population of able-bodied, childless adults.

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