SASI’s new report, Medicaid Expansion in the South, examines efforts in nine Deep South states to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. Thirty-two states have expanded Medicaid. Many of the remaining states are located in the Deep South: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas. Louisiana plans to expand Medicaid in July 2016.

In states that have not expanded Medicaid, people remain uninsured because they do not qualify for traditional Medicaid under the states’ rules and cannot afford to purchase insurance on the ACA Insurance Marketplace.  These people fall into what is known as the “coverage gap.” According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, 90% of people who fall in the coverage gap live in the South. *

SASI’s report looks at the impact in the Deep South states that have failed to expand Medicaid and examines the politics and advocacy efforts surrounding the movement to bring Medicaid expansion to the South.

* http://kff.org/health-reform/issue-brief/the-coverage-gap-uninsured-poor-adults-in-states-that-do-not-expand-medicaid-an-update/