Whether you live in a red or blue state may play a big role in your access to health care.
As Obamacare open enrollment is set to begin Tuesday, here’s a closer look at where states stand on health care exchanges and Medicaid expansion.
Whether you live in a red or blue state may play a big role in your access to health care.
Perhaps not surprisingly, states that voted for President Obama in 2012 are taking more steps to enact Obamacare than those that voted for failed Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney.
For instance, 14 states and the District of Columbia are running their own health insurance exchanges and have agreed to participate in Medicaid expansion. All but one of them – Kentucky – backed Obama in last year’s election. However, Democrats control the Governor’s mansion and the state House of Representatives.
Eight states are opting to allow the federal government run all or part of their health exchanges, but support Medicaid expansion. They are a mixed bag, with the President having won five and Mitt Romney having won three.
But a full 28 states are opting out of both plans – not running their own exchanges and opposing Medicaid expansion (or at least seeking an alternative plan). Twenty of those – including much of the Deep South – voted for Mitt Romney.
Some of those states are home to the highest rates of people below the poverty line, including Alabama (17.5%), Louisiana (17.3%) and Mississippi (21.9%).
Watch The Daily Rundown‘s “Deep Dive” into the politics of health care implementation in the full clip above.