Falling through cracks if states don't expand Medicaid

[sinkingfeeling]

http://vitals.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/08/07/13145392-falling-through-cracks-if-states-dont-expand-medicaid?lite

Derek Anderson never imagined he'd wind up on welfare. At 36, he has a college degree, a solid background in sales and three kids under the age of 7. He's also recovering from leukemia and since he lost his job and his employer-sponsored insurance, he’s been on Medicare, the federal health insurance plan for the disabled and elderly.

Anderson, who now relies on Social Security disability payments for income while he tries to get back on his feet, worries about whether he can get a job with health insurance. If he starts working, he'll lose eligibility for Social Security and Medicare -- but he and his wife, Erica, would likely be eligible for Medicaid if his home state, Montana, expands it as called for under the 2010 health reform law and offers it to low-income adults. However, their future is now unclear after the Supreme Court said states can opt out of the expansion.

Chad Clayton says he’s an example. When an attack of acute pancreatitis hit him in March of last year, Clayton hadn’t yet worked the 90 days needed to qualify for employer-sponsored health insurance at his job as a meat cutter in Portland, Tenn.

Clayton says he was taken by ambulance to a hospital where he was unconscious for 23 days after that, suffering from blood infections and multiple organ failure. Now 43, Clayton says the hospitals that treated him are likely on the hook for his bills. “My bills are about $500,000. I can’t pay none of them,” he said. “My first hospital bill was $192,000, not including doctors. I wouldn’t even know where to begin.” Health experts agree hospitals in these cases will pass along its costs in the form of higher bills to paying customers.