To: The Alabama State House, The Alabama State Senate, and Governor Kay Ivey
Healthcare for All Alabamians
45,000 people die each year due to the lack of healthcare insurance, this is a problem that is easily corrected and the facts prove it.
Why is this important?
Because we lost Venus (my daughter) due to the lack of healthcare insurance, we now fight to help others not have to endure the same thing.One-third of Non-Elderly Alabamians are Uninsured
Nearly one-third of Alabamians under the age of 65 did not have health insurance at some point during the last two years, with more than 75 percent of them going without insurance for more than six months. This information, compiled for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
More than 50 percent of those who were found to be uninsured in the national study had incomes of less than $15,000 for a family of three.
“Approximately 70 percent of them were employed.
And, while the likelihood of being uninsured was greater among 18 to 24 year olds, the vast majority of the uninsured identified in the study were middle-aged.”
Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley has said he would not expand a "broken" Medicaid system. He signed into law last month a Medicaid reform bill, which turns toward a managed care model.
States were given the right to opt out of the Medicaid expansion portion of the Affordable Care Act with a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 2012.
In addition to Alabama, the other states publicly stating they will not participate are: Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas and Wisconsin.
Under the Affordable Care Act, Medicaid eligibility would be raised to nearly everyone with an annual income of less than 138 percent of poverty.
"If 14 states opt out of expanding Medicaid, there are likely to be 27.9 million uninsured people - 3.6 million more than if the Affordable Care Act were fully implemented," the study stated.
And the 14 states would see their federal transfer payments decrease by $8.4 billion, according to RAND. The states would see an increase in spending in the short term because they would spend more on uncompensated care, the study stated.
Under the ACA expansion, the federal government will cover 100 percent of health care expenditures from 2014 through 2016. During these first years, Alabama would be responsible for a share of the administrative costs of the expansion. The federal matching rate declines after 2016, falling gradually to 90 percent in 2020. As a result, the annual costs to Alabama increase from $39 million in 2014 to $222 million in 2020, for a total over the years of $771 millions.
A University of Alabama at Birmingham study last year said that the expansion in Alabama will provide Medicaid coverage to an additional 300,000 people and generate $20 billion in economic activity which will add $1.7 billion in tax revenue. This will create jobs from every sector. From the top tier Surgeons, doctors, nurses of every level, office work not just secretarial, dieticians, maintenance, and the list goes on and on. How can we continue to support this kind of thinking and the actions behind them? I can’t and won’t
45, 00 people die each year from lack of Health Care Insurance.
Nearly one-third of Alabamians under the age of 65 did not have health insurance at some point during the last two years, with more than 75 percent of them going without insurance for more than six months. This information, compiled for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
More than 50 percent of those who were found to be uninsured in the national study had incomes of less than $15,000 for a family of three.
“Approximately 70 percent of them were employed.
And, while the likelihood of being uninsured was greater among 18 to 24 year olds, the vast majority of the uninsured identified in the study were middle-aged.”
Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley has said he would not expand a "broken" Medicaid system. He signed into law last month a Medicaid reform bill, which turns toward a managed care model.
States were given the right to opt out of the Medicaid expansion portion of the Affordable Care Act with a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 2012.
In addition to Alabama, the other states publicly stating they will not participate are: Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas and Wisconsin.
Under the Affordable Care Act, Medicaid eligibility would be raised to nearly everyone with an annual income of less than 138 percent of poverty.
"If 14 states opt out of expanding Medicaid, there are likely to be 27.9 million uninsured people - 3.6 million more than if the Affordable Care Act were fully implemented," the study stated.
And the 14 states would see their federal transfer payments decrease by $8.4 billion, according to RAND. The states would see an increase in spending in the short term because they would spend more on uncompensated care, the study stated.
Under the ACA expansion, the federal government will cover 100 percent of health care expenditures from 2014 through 2016. During these first years, Alabama would be responsible for a share of the administrative costs of the expansion. The federal matching rate declines after 2016, falling gradually to 90 percent in 2020. As a result, the annual costs to Alabama increase from $39 million in 2014 to $222 million in 2020, for a total over the years of $771 millions.
A University of Alabama at Birmingham study last year said that the expansion in Alabama will provide Medicaid coverage to an additional 300,000 people and generate $20 billion in economic activity which will add $1.7 billion in tax revenue. This will create jobs from every sector. From the top tier Surgeons, doctors, nurses of every level, office work not just secretarial, dieticians, maintenance, and the list goes on and on. How can we continue to support this kind of thinking and the actions behind them? I can’t and won’t
45, 00 people die each year from lack of Health Care Insurance.