Medicaid Expansion’s Tale of Two States: Kentucky ‘Haves’ vs. Indiana ‘Have-Nots’
Lorinda Fox of New Albany, Ind., hasn’t been to a doctor since her last child was born 21 years ago. Poor and uninsured, she treats her illnesses with over-the-counter remedies.
At age 58, she knows she’s taking chances with her health, especially since she recently began having heart palpitations and chest pain.
“I’ll do the same thing I always do — gut it out,” said Fox, who lives with her hearing-impaired daughter and earns about $12,000 a year working in retail. “I don’t know what else I can do.”
If Fox lived in Kentucky, she would qualify for expanded Medicaid next year under the Affordable Care Act. But she lives in a state where she makes too much to qualify for traditional Medicaid, and politicians have chosen not to expand Medicaid as Obamacare intended, contending that Indiana taxpayers can’t afford it.
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