Posted Aug 19, 2012
Our Opinion: Implement Affordable Care Act in Illinois
It’s time to accept that the Affordable Care Act — or Obamacare for those who have tried to demonize the law and the president — is the law of the land.
In Illinois, that means the General Assembly should vote to accept federal funding for the law’s expansion of Medicaid if necessary and create an insurance exchange for those who will need to purchase insurance because their employer does not provide it.
Illinois Republicans hope to participate in the same kind of obstruction their colleagues in other statehouses are practicing by throwing up false arguments against the state implementing the law.
Under the law, Medicaid, the state and federal program for the poor, will be expanded to cover more people at higher income levels. Medicaid would be available to adults in Illinois who don’t have minor children in their homes if their household income doesn’t exceed 138 percent of the federal poverty level, or less than $15,415 a year for an individual and $31,800 for a family of four.
Today, adults without children qualify for Medicaid in Illinois only if they are senior citizens or have permanent disabilities and incomes at or below the federal poverty level. Disabled adults can be on Medicaid if they get Social Security disability benefits.
The federal government will foot 100 percent of the bill for the first three years and 90 percent in subsequent years.
Last month, Sen. Bill Brady, R-Bloomington, floated what’s become a standard talking point amongst Republicans: That the federal government may not keep paying the bills in subsequent years, leaving the state of Illinois on the hook for the cost.
If that happens — and let’s face it, the only reason it would is if congressional Republicans are successful in yanking funding — then the state has an out provided by the U.S. Supreme Court: It can back out of the Medicaid expansion.
While the justices decided Obamacare was constitutional, they also told the federal government it could not coerce the states into participating in the Medicaid expansion by yanking their existing Medicaid funding. If the federal government quits paying the bills, Illinois should quit participating in the program.
Brady also offered up another false choice, noting the state’s decrepit financial state.
“We’ve got $7.5 billion in unpaid bills,” he said.
None of those bills can be paid for with the money being offered under Obamacare. It’s a separate program.
The Affordable Care Act requires every American to have insurance, either through Medicaid, Medicare, their employer or purchased from a state-based health insurance exchange. The exchanges are basically a health insurance superstore with competing plans aimed at driving premiums down.
Those who don’t have employer-based insurance or who aren’t eligible for a government program will buy off of the exchanges. The government will subsidize some of the costs of premiums based on income level.
Some Republican governors are threatening not to accept the federal Medicaid money, leaving their poorest citizens uncovered. This is particularly cruel given that subsidies given to people participating in the exchanges who make too much money to be Medicaid-eligible won’t go to those who are.
Illinois should not join those who would be heartless in order to score political points.
http://www.sj-r.com/breaking/x1782330711/Our-Opinion-Implement-Affordable-Care-Act-in-Illinois
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