Huffington Magazine Issue 88 | Page 52

HUFFINGTON 02.16.14 JOE RAEDLE/GETTY IMAGES TOO POOR FOR OBAMACARE Under the pre-Obamacare rules, eligibility for the program typically was limited to low-income children, pregnant women, parents caring for children at home, and adults with disabilities. Without the law’s expansion, an adult without a disability who isn’t living with their children — like Alphonse — doesn’t qualify for Medicaid, no matter how poor he or she is. For those who don’t qualify for Medicaid coverage, Obamacare offers tax credits for private health plans sold through the law’s health insurance exchange marketplaces. But those subsidies are available only to those making between the poverty level, or about $11,500 for an individual, and four times that amount. In states not expanding Medicaid, people who earn less than poverty wages get nothing. In Alphonse’s case, his family is trying to survive on his unemployment insurance. It amounts to $4,800 a year — far below the Florida Governor Rick Scott (R), center, greets Scott Dorfman as he arrives for a town hall meeting with the Agency for Persons with Disabilities. Scott was initially a health care reform antagonist who opposed Medicaid expansion, but then changed his mind.