Unsurprisingly, a 'glitch' was found in the thousands of pages that make up the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. What is this specific glitch you ask? Well, it's a glitch that will allow approximately three million middle-class American's to get on the dole in the form of Medicaid.
Essentially, the glitch effects people who will retire early (62 years of age is when you can start collecting Social Security), provided that a married couple does not make more than sixty-four thousand dollars a year. This will allow anyone in said category to be eligible for Medicaid by the year 2014, assuming that the government does nothing to fix this error.
What surprises me, though, is that it was actually a bureaucrat who discovered this glitch. The man's name is Richard Foster, and he is the Medicare chief actuary. Foster is so troubled by this, that he actually says the matter keeps him up at night.
Unfortunately for Foster, policymakers are turning a deaf ear to him. Foster claims that no one is making this an urgent matter. However, one lawmaker, Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, says that the error is "unacceptable."
What makes this glitch even more troubling is the fact that the early retirees income from Social Security will not be considered in the application process. There are already an upwards of fifty million American's on Medicaid, and as it is a federal-state cost sharing partnership, this will only serve to add even more of a burden to state's that are struggling to balance their budgets.
This actually terrifies me, as Foster is probably one of only a handful of people who are going over the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act with a fine-tooth comb. I'm almost certain that we are going to hear of more of these 'glitches' to come, but as Nancy Pelosi famously declared, "we must pass the bill in order to know what's in it." Well, Rep. Pelosi, we're sure as hell finding out now.
Sincerely,
Kip
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110621/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_health_overhaul_glitch
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