Residents of States Resisting the Affordable Care Act Still Benefiting
<p>States have a lot of discretion in implementing the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and some are using that leeway to undermine the expansion of health insurance coverage. Twelve states, for example, have decided neither to expand Medicaid nor to play a role in their own insurance marketplaces, where individuals and small businesses can purchase coverage with federal subsidies.</p><p>In a <a href="/blog/2014/residents-acas-nonparticipating-states-still-benefiting">new blog post</a>, The Commonwealth Fund's David Blumenthal, M.D., and David Squires point out that "nonparticipating states have enjoyed only limited success in preventing the ACA from taking root in their jurisdictions." More than 3 million individuals have enrolled in a health plan through the marketplaces in nonparticipating states, and Medicaid enrollment rose in half of the nonparticipating states because of the so-called "woodwork effect."
</p>
<p>Read the blog post for more detail on how the ACA is affecting people in every part of the country.</p>