More than one-third of individuals covered under the Affordable Care Act’s proposed expansion of Medicaid have criminal histories, according to U.S. Department of Justice.
In 2011, President Barack Obama’s DoJ estimated that “at least 35 percent of new Medicaid eligibles under the Affordable Care Act have a history of criminal involvement.”
According to Forbes writer Avik Roy: “They arrived at this number by noting that approximately 10 million Americans are either in jail or released from prison each year; if approximately 60 percent of these individuals are uninsured enrollees in the appropriate income range, and the Medicaid expansion was originally estimated to cover 16 million people, then more than 35 percent of the Medicaid expansion population is comprised of convicted criminals.”
That many of the 100,000 people expected to benefit from the expansion of Medicaid’s income eligibility requirements may have criminal histories will only add fuel to recent weeks’ fiery debate, though it is unclear with the 35 percent figure holds true for Maine.
Steve Robinson
Editor, Maine Wire
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