Medicaid Enrollment Eclipses the Marketplaces in Total Numbers

Through October 2015, the Obamacare provision that allows states to enroll anyone earning less than 138 percent of the federal poverty level into Medicare has netted 13.5 million new enrollees, eclipsing marketplace sign-ups -- both state and federal -- by a couple of million people. (The 13.5 million number also include enrollees into the Children's Health Insurance Program, or CHIP.) The program is currently available in 31 states after a 7-to-2 Supreme Court decision voided the original provision of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) mandating Medicaid expansion in all 50 states, making it voluntary. Some states opted out due to philosophical differences while others balked at the cost. Though the federal government currently reimburses the states for 100 percent of the expansion cost, beginning in 2017 the reimbursement falls to 90 percent. The expansion has increased Medicaid enrollment by 23.6 percent, bringing the total to 71.75 million persons.

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