Across the nation, but especially in Florida, Obamacare continues to be a gigantic success. It insures 10% of Floridians, and that will grow this year. Obamacare is a wonderfully humane policy, giving numerous Americans care and security they would not otherwise have. And it is a source of security to all of us in the case of unexpected job loss. But it is also an economic boon, especially in Florida, which has an economy based upon low wage service workers. It also allows small companies, especially start ups, to hire and retain talent they would otherwise lose to more established employers than can offer group insurance. It has been the public policy success that dare not speak its name Record enrollment expected Record enrollment expected - Tampa Bay Times For more great content like this subscribe to the Tampa Bay Times app here:
And just think how much better it could be if Florida Republicans like DeSantis would allow the Medicaid expansion. But they put their ideology ahead of the welfare of the people of their state.
We been suffering because of this. Our oldest son has some special needs that would normally be covered by Medicaid. Because they are normally covered by Medicaid, our insurance doesn't cover them. Despite them not being covered by Medicaid in Florida. We have some friends who just left the state because of this. They have two adopted kids with Downs Syndrome (yes, they are saints). They moved here a few months ago from a state with full Medicaid coverage and were shocked to find out that Medicaid in Florida covered almost none of what their kids needed. So they had to quit the new job and add who has full Medicaid to their list of what they considered in where they applied for. Our governor is willing to hurt children to help his presidential campaign.
Sorry to hear about your son's issues and your friends'. I have a high functioning autistic son who is now 30. In addition to the autism he has related issues (like extreme social anxiety) that have prevented him from holding a job for the last few years. We've pretty much been supporting him (thankfully he's very frugal). He's on Obamacare and that has been a godsend. His ACA premiums are pretty low but I need to look into getting him on Medicaid to see if he could get better mental health care with it. But we also live in a state that refuses to help its own people by expanding the Medicaid access, so I don't know if it's possible.
This thread is no fun without the righties chiming in. Could be there’s no disputing its success. Yet, that’s not often deterred them.
Righties cried about Obamacare for years, then when it came time for them to show they had a better plan, they had nothing. What a clownshow lol
I would also add that Obamacare/the ACA is very similar to the REPUBLICAN healthcare plan of 1993. Summary Of A 1993 Republican Health Reform Plan Republicans Spurn Once-Favored Health Mandate
The likely avenues for getting him on Medicaid: - Apply for SSI disability, which would make him eligible for Medicaid. I’ve applied for Medicaid for our 18 hr old son. It has been almost 6 months and the application still hasn’t been processed. It takes a long time. To qualify for SSI you have to demonstrate he can’t substantially work. There are attorneys that specialize in this area and often work on contingency. We will pursue this route if our initial application fails. If you go that route be aware of asset and income limits for your adult son. They are very restrictive. Also, some states (like TX) have “waiver” programs for Medicaid eligibility for certain disabled adults. The waiting lists are decades long. In TX a high functioning ASD person likely wouldn’t qualify.
That is tough for you guys to go through, and it's a shame that governor thinks you're not worth helping. As far as Affordable Care Act, I said at the time that I didn't know it was the best thing we could have done, but at least it was something. Healthcare is the one area where someone could basically have done everything right and still financially destroyed. If you lost your insurance and had something major happen, there may be no way to get out of your financial hole. People need health insurance.
Not in the dog-eat-dog world of the GOP. They've opposed every health insurance plan ever proposed. Hell, they even oppose allowing Medicare to bring down the cost of certain drugs by allowing them to negotiate prices. And they always have some rationale for this to-hell-with-the-middleclass attitude. What they don't have are proposals of their own.
Thanks for the advice. I've always assumed that my son is too high-functioning to qualify for disability. He does make some money (a few hundred bucks a month) as an artist on commission. He's a good artist.
It is probably worth a shot, with the help of an attorney. The first step you will likely get slam dunked, but your odds of an in person appeal are better. I would hope my son’s chances are pretty good. He may or may not be “high functioning” depending on how you define but for various reasons he isn’t ready to work. He only worked one brief summer job stint with job coach via texas workforce commission and his productivity was minimal. We are still working with TWC for other opportunities. Your son is probably in similar boat to my 21 year old bipolar daughter. She has applied to SSI on her own and was rejected. She has worked more than a dozen jobs most didn’t last over 2 weeks due to her ability to “adult”. Drug addiction didn’t help either. She is starting another job and seems to be on a better path. If she can consistently work then that’s better than SSI. However the Medicaid would be helpful because you typically get longer stays in mental health centers and addiction treatment places than with private insurance. Like your son she is very artistic and even occasionally sells pieces although not typically enough to survive a day. You don’t have to have zero income but there are limits. How to Get On Understanding SSI - SSI Resources Income Exclusions for SSI Program Special Needs Alliance -Attorneys For Special Needs Planning
Just following up on this post. While I always viewed ACA as a necessary step forward I viewed it as significantly flawed. It has frankly turned out better than I would have expected. I figured getting rid of the individual mandate would cause the exchange to implode but thankfully it hasn’t. As to the Medicaid expansion, slowly even red states are picking it up. I have had conversations with die hard conservatives who either didn’t understand all states don’t have expanded Medicaid, or ones who think those types of services should be subsidized and available, even though I am sure they “hate Obamacare”. Also what is so ridiculous is most people in the remaining states don’t get that they are already paying for the Medicaid expansion. They are just opting out of receiving the benefits. The federal government funds 90-95% of the funding, and the state picks up 5-10%. Why as a resident of a state, whether you liked the program or not, would you refuse to accept benefits when 95% is funded by the federal government? I wonder how many conservatives really understand this. I suspect not many. As a side note, it took decades for all the states to originally accept the original Medicaid when it was passed in the 60’s. I think the final state signed on in the 80’s.
Excellent post. I would’ve never expected it to succeed without the mandate. It is amazing how much resistance in the face and frivolously go arguments but it has proven to be durable because it was necessary because it did help fill a need. So much more to say but that’s enough. Not to make it to political, but I wish there was more recognition of the fact that it has been a success by any decent measure
I always figured it would either succeed, or it would fail, but in failure the result would be a step toward single payer. It is really hard to imagine at this point we go back to pre ACA. I don’t put it past the GOP to be dumb enough to do this if they could, but it would likely cause a backlash because of the disruption it would cause, as well as a lot of confusion in the insurance and business community.
And since most people's insurance is tied to their job, if they have some thing really bad happen to them they may have to quit working and then w/o the ACA they would never be able to get coverage and would have to chose between potentially life saving treatment w/ financial ruin for your family or going without. My best friend came down with Cancer and once it started getting real bad he had to quit his job because he couldn't work anymore and 2-weeks sick leave sure doesn't go very far. I remember him looking at me and saying, "If it weren't for Obama Care I would be bankrupt."
Before the ACA, my company was looking at layoffs and a good friend of mine was scared to death. He had a heart condition and he had no idea if he'd be able to afford premiums on the open market.
