Former U.S. President Barack Obama waves prior to delivering his speech during the 4th Congress of Indonesian Diaspora Network in Jakarta, Indonesia, Saturday, July 1, 2017. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim)
At least 21,000 needy people have died while waiting for Medicaid coverage, while 13 million able-bodied adults received coverage from Medicaid in the states that expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, an explosive new study revealed Tuesday. At least 247,295 people are currently on waiting lists to enroll in Medicaid.
The study, published by the Foundation for Government Accountability, revealed that when Obamacare enabled states to vastly expand Medicaid, it resulted in mismanagement, depriving the most needy and rewarding the able-bodied.
"This really is a tragedy. Medicaid was designed as a safety net for the truly needy. But it's become bloated and lost its focus," Nic Horton, research director at the foundation, told PJ Media. He argued that the "ObamaCare expansion is perhaps the best example of this: nearly 13 million able-bodied adults have been added to welfare while truly needy individuals on waiting lists die before ever getting the services they needed."
"I hope this is a wake-up call for policymakers everywhere to examine their Medicaid programs and make sure resources are being preserved for those who are truly vulnerable," Horton declared.
Since Obamacare's Medicaid expansion came into effect in 2014, 21,904 people have died while on the waiting list, and that number only includes 12 of the 32 states that expanded Medicaid. During that time, Medicaid spending on able-bodied adults more than doubled.
According to the report, only 10.7 million disabled people are on Medicaid, while the program covers 29.2 million able-bodied adults.
The foundation's report told the tragic story of Skylar Overman, a 12-year-old girl in Little Rock, Arkansas. "Born with a rare neurological condition called Schizencephaly that requires around-the-clock care, 12-year-old Skylar spent more than 10 years on the state’s Medicaid waiting list. While Skylar waited, the state enrolled more than 300,000 able-bodied adults in their Obamacare Medicaid Expansion."
Currently, there are more than 650,000 truly needy individuals like Skylar on waiting lists across the country, with nearly 250,000 of them in states that expanded Medicaid under Obamacare.
Here is a breakdown of the 22 states that expanded Medicaid under Obamacare and reported how many needy people are still on the Medicaid waiting lists. Next to the states where people died on the waiting list, I have included the number of people who died waiting for care. Three states in particular stand out: Maryland, Louisiana, and New Mexico.
1. Alaska.
In Alaska, 535 people remain on the Medicaid waiting list.
2. Arkansas, 74 deaths.
Under the Obamacare expansion, 289,428 people successfully signed up for Medicaid in Arkansas. There are still 3,278 people on the waiting list, however, and in the past four years 74 of them have died.
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