During President Trump’s campaign, there was a lot of rhetoric extolling the importance of caring for veterans. That time seemed to change with the House passage of the American Healthcare Act (AHCA).
In recent months, veteran organizations like Paralyzed Veterans of America have spoken out against Trump’s proposed American Health Care Act, due to its flawed approach to treating disabled vets in need of special care. With the proposed direction of Medicaid under the AHCA, more veterans may suffer.
A new report from the Urban Institute finds that during the formative years of the Affordable Care Act, close to half a million veterans received much-needed healthcare thanks to the ACA’s Medicaid initiative. Between 2013-2015, a 40% drop in uninsured vets occurred, at around 429,000. When the ACA was first implemented, one million of the 22 million vets in this country were without healthcare, either due to ineligibility of VA funding or Medicare, holding jobs where coverage was not offered, or simply not being informed of their options.
Lower income vets who fell at or below 138% of the FPL sought Medicaid, and thanks to the ACA’s expansion of Medicaid in key states, they were able to receive healthcare for the first time. By 2015, only 4.8 of veterans in Medicaid expansion states were uninsured; 7.1% in states that have not participated in the expansion. This coverage stretched to families of veterans as well, thanks to Medicaid.
Should the expansion stop upon repeal of the ACA, veterans may suffer. To date, 19 states have yet to participate in Medicaid expansion, with one of those states being Florida. With the sizable number of retired vets heading South, this would ultimately block lower income retired vets from potentially gaining healthcare. That’s not including the number of future veterans seeking Medicaid or the current ones awaiting expansion in their states. It’s a problem that could grow as more Americans serve in our armed forces and come home hoping to be cared for, as promised by our President.
