Affordable Care Act (Healthcare Reform) and Multicultural Populations cont.
We conclude our 12 part blog series on the Affordable Care Act and Multicultural Populations.
Medicaid & Obama Care – Part 12
By Martha C. Rivera, Director, Strategy and Insights, and Stephanie Puga, Junior Executive
On March 23, 2010 Barack Obama signed the Affordable Health Care Act (ACA), or as many know it as Obama Care. How does it impact Medicaid? The main changes in Medicaid under Obama Care are:
a.) Medicaid enrollees will be provided with expanded coverage
b.) Each state will be required to streamline and simplify the enrollment process
c.) Eligibility criteria have changed to individuals who fall under the 133% FPL and are under age 65.
Poverty level alone does not qualify someone for Medicaid; however it is one of the most important determining factors. When reviewing the Affordable Health Care Act in full and observing that the qualifications to purchase insurance through an exchange begins at 139% FPL, one might ask, what happens to those who fall between the 133% and 138% FPL range? These individuals are granted a 5% disregard in order to qualify for Medicaid. This ultimately means the FPL limit is raised to 138%. With these changes approximately 9.2 million uninsured individuals of multicultural origin are predicted to now be covered under U.S. Medicaid by 2016 under the Affordable Health Care Act. This law will be fully implemented January 1, 2014.
Source: http://www.healthcare.gov
