Editorial Board
Obamacare’s Medicaid Malpractice
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In its continuing campaign to get more Americans covered by Medicaid, the federal government used two simple and time-honored strategies this week: one carrot and one stick. It will need to use more of both, but especially the stick.
To appreciate why, it’s first worth repeating why making more people eligible for Medicaid is a good idea. The Affordable Care Act expanded the program to cover anyone earning as much as 138 percent of the federal poverty level, with the federal government paying 100 percent of the cost at first, gradually reducing to 90 percent by 2020, with states paying the rest. Sixteen million people were expected to gain health coverage as a result.