Now that the Supreme Court has ruled in favor the administration’s position in the 
‘King v. Burwell’ case, supporting the legality Act subsidies in all states, residents and legislators in states that have declined to expand are pondering what that ruling means to them.
Drafters the assumed all states would take advantage the law’s to cover most or all the expanding to include all Americans whose income was below 138% the federal poverty level. But only 29 states and the District Columbia did so; 21 states declined, although two these are considering an expansion their programs.
In Georgia,one the non-expansion states, about 0,000 residents have incomes too low for them to qualify for subsidies but would have qualified for , according to an article in The Augusta Chronicle.
With the ‘King’ case decided and that uncertainty about the future the removed, “it really is to move and make sure that [the ACA] works for all Georgians, and that means people who are currently in the gap,” Cindy Zeldin, executive director Georgians for a Healthy Future, told the newspaper’s reporter Tom Corwin.
In rural areas Georgia, as much as 40% to 50% residents have no at all, according to Jim Davis, CEO University Hospital in Augusta.
“Because there is no Medicaid expansion, we still have a tremendous amount expense,” Davis told the newspaper, while hospitals are also seeing cuts in payments from Medi. “We’re getting the bad side both things here and none the upside. You’re starting to see rural hospitals fail. I think you are going to see a lot that quickly.”
The federal government would provide about $3 billion to pay for the costs expanding , covering 100% the in 2016 and % in subsequent years.
Opponents say expansion would still be too costly, and argue that the federal government could reduce payments in later years, saddling Georgia and other expansion states with those costs.
The newspaper notes that the Georgia legislature was so opposed to expansion that it stripped the state’s governor the power to decide expanding , leaving that decision solely in the hands the legislature.