ObamaMESS: Medicaid Expansion Limits Medical Choices

The national debate over the Affordable Care Act's Medicaid expansion is nowhere close to being finished. Just ask my patients, who were forced off their private insurance and into the failing, government-run health care program.

This was one of the ACA's (or ObamaCare's) many unintended consequences.

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In the 27 states that have expanded Medicaid — including my state, Arizona — many middle-class individuals and families with private health insurance shopped around on Healthcare.gov for their 2014 health care plans.

They reasonably assumed they could continue using their private plan, or perhaps even purchase a different plan that better fit their needs. Instead, they were forced into Medicaid because of their income level, whether they liked it or not.

You may be asking whether this is a big deal. After all, Medicaid is free for those who qualify for it. But this comes with significant trade-offs.

In exchange for paying no money, Medicaid patients receive severely limited access to doctors and health care, ultimately leaving them with worse health outcomes.

Two recent patients of mine illustrate these trade-offs. The first patient shows the dangers of Medicaid. She had recently undergone a full mastectomy to treat her breast cancer, making her a candidate for reconstructive surgery immediately following the initial procedure.

Unfortunately, Arizona's Medicaid expansion had recently pushed her out of private insurance and into Medicaid; her treatment options were severely limited as a result. Only one doctor in the area could perform the procedure, meaning she will have to wait up to nine months for her reconstruction.

Had she not been forced into Medicaid, she would have enjoyed access to a number of qualified physicians. This would have let her receive the reconstructive surgery immediately after the mastectomy, dramatically lessening the disruption to her health and her life.

Read the rest of the story HERE.

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