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Friday, February 28, 2014
(WDNG) - A new report says Alabama’s refusal to participate in Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act will leave nearly 180,000 residents with mental illness uninsured.
The report released on Thursday by the American Mental Health Counselors Association says 348,000 uninsured people in the state are currently eligible for coverage under the Medicaid Expansion that went into effect this year.
Because of lawmakers’ decision to not expand medicaid under the federal overhaul, the report’s authors say 177,000 Alabama citizens who have a serious mental illness, psychological distress, or a substate use disorder will be left without insurance.
Association Executive Director Joel Miller said in a statement on Wednesday “health insurance is the passkey to good, timely health care services, and state policymakers in 25 states are locking people out of the system.”
The full report says 25 states that have refused to participate in the optional Medicaid expansion represent 55 percent of all uninsured people with major mental health disorders who are otherwise eligible for coverage under the ACA.
An estimated 6.7 million uninsured people with mental illness nationwide are reportedly eligible for Medicaid, but nearly 4 million of those people live in states that have opted out of the program.
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Keywords: healthcare,Affrdable Care Act,American Mental Health Counselors Association,Medicaid,mental illness
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