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Medicaid: A Tale Of Two States

Angela Merten is an in-person assister for the federal online marketplace at Touchette Regional Hospital. But she says most of the people she'll help sign up for health insurance will qualify for Medicaid under Illinois' expanded program. (Véronique LaCapra/St. Louis Public Radio)
Angela Merten is an in-person assister for the federal online marketplace at Touchette Regional Hospital. But she says most of the people she'll help sign up for health insurance will qualify for Medicaid under Illinois' expanded program. (Véronique LaCapra/St. Louis Public Radio)

There are at least 62 million people enrolled in Medicaid programs across the U.S. today. That’s up about three million since the Affordable Care Act went into effect.

In most states, Medicaid eligibility used to be limited to financially needy people, including some elderly and some disabled adults. The ACA was designed to expand Medicaid coverage to all adults earning up to 138 percent of federal poverty levels.

But in 2012, the Supreme Court gave states the chance to opt out of the expansion. Illinois is one of 25 states that went ahead with Medicaid expansion. Neighboring Missouri did not.

From the Here & Now Contributors Network, Véronique LaCapra of Saint Louis Public Radio looked into the impacts of those differing decisions.

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Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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