ObamaCare Versus The States

Now that Obama has won a second term, the future of Obamacare seems hopeful... or does it? There are certainly still many hurdles ahead of Obama’s new health care legislation, which even the President and his administration acknowledge. Under the new law, Medcaid will be expanded to anyone who is below the current poverty level. The biggest challenge to Obamacare however is getting the states on board with this idea. Although the Supreme Court ruled that requiring individuals to purchase medical insurance is constitutional, it did not rule that states must agree to expanding their medicare budget. Huffington Post writer, Jeffrey Young reports that the Congressional Budget Office calculated that allowing states to opt out of the planned Medicaid expansion could leave some 3 million people uninsured. This of course counters what the Obama administration is seeking to achieve via its heath care reform bill. Therefore, this may prove to be quite an obstacle to the success of the bill. Another point to consider is that under the Obamacare plan, states must concede to forming health insurance exchanges. However, this is something many states are not necessarily on board with. State exchanges could mean higher taxes and fewer jobs, which is why many states are wary of agreeing to the formation of the exchanges. Michael Cannon of The Health Care Blog, believed that states are better off defaulting to a federal exchange. Cannon states that state exchanges coupled with Medicare expansion are too costly and risky to undertake. This is certainly a valid point, especially as many states, such as California are already facing major budget woes.