The Affordable Care Act (ACA) — “Obamacare” — has turned out to be a great way to measure political character.
For people living near or below the poverty level — those making roughly $15,500 a year or less — the ACA was supposed to offer insurance through an expanded Medicaid program. Before the ACA, only children in poverty and certain adults were eligible for Medicaid. The new law meant that most people living below the poverty level could be eligible for Medicaid. And the federal government would cover the entire tab for new enrollees for three years, and thereafter pay 90 percent of expenses.
Yet in 23 states, the legislature is protesting the ACA by rejecting the expansion, thus building their political grandstands on the backs of the poor.
