Wednesday, June 22, 2011

An Obamacare Feature (Not a Bug)

Medicaid for the middle class?
President Barack Obama's health care law would let several million middle-class people get nearly free insurance meant for the poor, a twist government number crunchers say they discovered only after the complex bill was signed.

The change would affect early retirees: A married couple could have an annual income of about $64,000 and still get Medicaid, said officials who make long-range cost estimates for the Health and Human Services department.

After initially downplaying any concern, the Obama administration said late Tuesday it would look for a fix.

Up to 3 million more people could qualify for Medicaid in 2014 as a result of the anomaly. That's because, in a major change from today, most of their Social Security benefits would no longer be counted as income for determining eligibility. It might be compared to allowing middle-class people to qualify for food stamps.

Medicare chief actuary Richard Foster says the situation keeps him up at night.

Obamacare pretty much keeps me up at night too but for many more reasons than Mr. Foster. I have become so cynical about Obamacare that I believe this was deliberately written in as a way to push more and more Americans into this government-run nightmare. Read the entire article but take your blood pressure meds first.

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