ACA - A Partial Victory For Conservatives Over Obamacare in South Carolina: Smile, Be Happy, You Won One.

HERE IS A QUICK STORY I PICKED UP FROM CNN'S DR. GUPTA. He was in South Carolina on his swing through the States explaining Obamacare to those with questions and ran across Yvonne. Yvonne was perplexed and asked why, when she was only making $9,360 per year, well below the poverty line, she wasn't eligible for the Obamacare insurance exchange subsidies; she was, after all, looking forward to having her own private insurance for the first time in her life.

Well, she has the Conservatives to thank for not being eligible. Yvonne was one of those people Conservatives could be proud of! You see, Yvonne, 35, once lived a life of the very poor, she lived in a car or with friends when she could, living hand-to-mouth, making ends meet however she could and living on Medicaid the times she got sick, fortunately for her, that was few and far between. She finally found a part-time $9.00/hr job that let her get an apartment and live on her own two feet, just as Conservatives would want her to do. At $9,360, she also made too much money to qualify for Medicaid.

But, no problem, Obamacare took care of that with their "expanded" version. But here is twist, Conservatives made such a stink about it that the Supreme Court did not uphold the mandatory part for States and let them opt out; South Carolina and many other conservative States chose to opt out; help people in need cost too much money. Obamacare didn't anticipate losing in the Supreme Court and did not have a fall back provision for their exchange subsidy program which STARTS at the poverty line and goes up from there. The expanded Medicaid program was supposed to help those like Yvonne who fell below the poverty line.

The result, of course, is that Yvonne, if she wants private insurance must pay the same amount as someone earning more than 4 times the poverty level! Conservatives, pat yourself on the back for a job well done.

According to Dr Joshua Sharfstein, the head of Maryland's health insurance expansion, there is no medical or financial reason for a State not to expand its Medicaid program. The Federal government will pick up 100% of the cost for four years, then almost all of the tab for three more and finally 90% of the cost there after, leaving the state to find only 10% of the cost to help its citizens. Apparently the health of their poor and people like Yvonne isn't worth the effort even though according to an analysis in Maryland, the economic benefits of Medicaid expansion would be in the billions. The conclusion was "it's just politics".

AT THE END OF THE CONVERSATION with Dr. Gupta, Yvonne asked, after working so hard to get off of Medicaid, which states she could move to where she could get back on Medicaid.

I TRIED TO FIND OUT HOW MANY AMERICANS have signed up for Obamacare in the first three days, the answer I could find on the Internet was from 0 to 9, not an auspicious start. I seems glitches.may be the culprit. I read that the security question section wasn't working, and I thought it was just me. I was testing out the site and after answering the security questions, it sent me back to the start, stopping from setting up my log-in. I am going to try again now.