SCOTUS took the teeth out of Medicaid expansion

WHAT'S CHANGING AFTER TODAY'S RULING:

The Supreme Court ruled that Congress has the authority to expand Medicaid, but it can't strip states of all their Medicaid funds if they fail to participate in that expansion. Prior to the court's decision, analysts expected that about half of the people who would gain insurance under the law would do so through Medicaid. Under the Supreme Court's ruling, it's up to each state to decide whether it expands coverage to more people.

If a state does decide to expand Medicaid, people with an income at or below 133 percent of the federal poverty level would be eligible to receive coverage.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2012/06/28/155915124/health-care-law-upheld-now-what


WHAT THIS MEANS TO STATE'S LIKE MISSOURI WHOSE LEGISLATURES ARE DOMINATED BY REPUBLICANS:

It's now more up to states if they take the federal funds to expand Medicaid. In other words, Missouri Republicans will opt out, Missouri's poor will be left out, and continue to use the ER in place of preventative care. Just what HCR was designed to avoid. This also means that the exemptions to the individual mandate need to be adjusted because in state's like Missouri, they do not have an appropriate affordable safety net.

HCR did not get upheld generally.