- The Fate of 16.8 Million Medicaid Enrollees Rests on 20 GOP Senators from 14 States Huffington Post by Jeffrey Young and Alissa Scheller—The Senate is on the verge of debating legislation to repeal and "replace" the Affordable Care Act, and Medicaid is on the chopping block. Whatever happens next with Obamacare repeal and the future of Medicaid will depend in large measure on whether GOP senators choose to fight for the combined 16.8 million of their constituents on Medicaid, including 4.3 million who gained Medicaid coverage because of the Affordable Care Act, according to data from state agencies compiled by HuffPost. More than 30 percent of those living in Sen. John Kennedy's Louisiana, Sens. John Boozman and Tom Cotton's Arkansas, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Sen. Rand Paul's Kentucky are Medicaid beneficiaries. More than one-fifth of those living in eight of the other states with Republicans senators are enrolled in Medicaid.