The Coverage Gap
Fault Lines examines why, despite the passage and implementation of the Affordable Care Act, 5 million mostly working poor Americans have been left without any health care coverage.
After rancorous debate, a Supreme Court case, and enrollment glitches, President Obama's signature legislation, the Affordable Care Act, has finally gone into effect.
But the president's plan of offering affordable health care to most Americans has an unintended gap in it. While the Supreme Court upheld the law as constitutional, it allowed states to decide whether to expand their Medicaid programs to more of their poorest residents. Now more than 5 million Americans—mostly indigent and working poor—have been left without access to health care coverage because nearly half the states have opted out of Medicaid expansion.
Fault Lines travels to Florida, Texas and North Carolina to examine the U.S.'s new health care dichotomy—how some of the country's poorest communities are being left behind while elsewhere millions of others in the same demographic have access to life-saving care.
CREDITS:
Executive Producer: Mathieu Skene, Senior Producers: Carrie Lozano @carrielozano and Reem Akkad @reemakkad, Correspondent: Josh Rushing @joshrushing, Directors of Photography: Victor Suarez @tadashi_lives and Singeli Agnew @singeli, Producer: Lauren Rosenfeld @lollymr, Additional Camera: Joel Van Haren @joelvanharen, Martin Asturias @martinasturias, Editors: Keith Wilson @keithtwitted, Jennifer Beman @jbwpost and Warwick Meade @warwickmeade, Digital Producer: Nikhil Swaminathan @sw4mi, Associate Digital Producer: Danielle Powell @DanielleJenene Production Manager: Dana Merwin, Production Assistance: Abdulai Bah @africandobah, Gavin McIntyre @gavin_mci, Shannon Najmabadi @SNajmabadi, Andra Cernavskis @AndraCernavskis, Mark Kurlyandchik @mkurlyandchik, Sara Lafleur-Vetter @lafleurius, Lynne Shallcross @lshallcross
More from this episode
Hospitals continue to shut down in rural America
When states opt out of Medicaid expansion, many rural communities soon find their local emergency rooms shuttered
- Topics:
- U.S.
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- Obamacare
How states refusing Medicaid expansion leave out the working poor
Republican governors argue opting in would discourage people from joining the workforce. But many are already in it.
- Topics:
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What’s at stake when states decide whether or not to expand Medicaid coverage under the Affordable Care Act?
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Photos from 'The Coverage Gap'
Behind the scenes of Fault Lines's investigation into the fight over states' decisions on whether to expand Medicaid.
- Topics:
- U.S.
- Health Care
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More on Medicaid Expansion
Expanding Medicaid without ‘Obamacare’
Red and purple states experiment with ‘private option’ in critical midterm election year
Medicaid boosted by 3 million, bringing ‘Obamacare’ sign-ups to 10 million
The numbers may boost Democrats’ assertion that ‘Obamacare’ is working
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