Prices, Politics Challenge Health Law's 3rd Sign-Up Season

Justices Stephen Breyer and Elena Kagan voted to permit states to opt out of Medicaid expansion.  The late, lamented folk singer Phil Ochs (I ain't marchin' anymore) wrote "Love Me, I'm a liberal...that's why I'm turning you in".  That's how I feel about the two liberal justices. - gwc
Prices, Politics Challenge Health Law's 3rd Sign-Up Season

The 2012 Supreme Court decision that upheld the law's individual coverage requirement also gave states the choice to decline expanding Medicaid. Across the South, Republican-led states have turned down the Medicaid option, leaving millions uninsured.

Many are trapped in what's called the "Medicaid gap." They cannot get health insurance through HealthCare.gov because the law prevents people below the poverty line from using the insurance exchanges. So the private insurance alternative is closed to them, even as their states refuse to expand public coverage.

Among them is John Davis of Port Charlotte, Florida, a 49-year-old construction worker unemployed because of health problems. A doctor at a free clinic is monitoring a suspicious spot on his lungs. "They won't biopsy it. Nobody will touch it because I don't have insurance," Davis said. "I feel like I'm walking around with a time bomb on my back and I can't see the timer."