Obama Health Care

As Republican support for Obama health care continues to grow, southern states continue to oppose it; in fact, governors from some of the unhealthiest states have voiced their opinions about the unpopular health care plan, including Governor Nikki Haley of South Carolina who said “Not in South Carolina.  We will not expand Medicaid on President Obama’s watch.  We will not expand Medicaid ever.”

 According to a recent news article at Fox News, Obama health care, our president’s signature domestic accomplishment, remains highly unpopular for many reasons.  As opponents of health care reform had predicted, health care premiums are going nowhere but up.  Media reports all around the country are highlighting the fact that Obama health care had led to companies cutting back on hiring new employees, and forced many citizens into working part-time not because they want to, but because there are so few companies hiring full-time workers.

In just a few months, state-based health insurance exchanges are scheduled to be up and running; however, very few people believe that the exchanges will function properly.  In fact, news reports reveal that the federal bureaucrat in control of implementing the exchanges recently said that now he is desperately hoping that the implementation of health exchanges won’t provide “a Third World experience,” instead of the “world-class experience” industry officials had hoped to provide.

Expanding Medicaid insurance rolls is an anchor of Obama health care; however very few governors in the Confederacy and Civil War border states region which run from Virginia to Texas are endorsing the deal, according to the Huffington Post.  In fact, Bill Haslam, governor of Tennessee, was the last governor of the Deep South to add his name to the opposition’s side.

While governors in southern states have their own ideas about Obama health care and Medicaid, until something is done there will be many Americans left without coverage because their salaries go above what is required to qualify for Medicaid.  On the flip side, the same people do not make enough money to qualify for subsidies to purchase insurance through the state exchanges.  Unfortunately, numerous public health studies which have been conducted bear out the fact that it is this same group of people who suffer most from health issues related to diabetes, obesity, and smoking.

Under Obama health care, states were to make Medicaid available to all households with an income up to 138% of the federal poverty rate.  This equates to approximately $32,000 for families of four, and $15,420 per year for individuals.  While the federal government would pick up most of the tab between 2014 and 2016 for new Medicaid patients, states would pay up to 10% of the cost.  The Supreme Court declared that the decision whether to expand would be left up to the states – and southern states, at the moment, are not willing to do that.  Drew Altman, leader at the Kaiser Family Foundation, predicted that over time, the staunch opposition will wane.

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