States Raise Barriers to Medicaid Eligibility

To control costs and fend off federal intrusion, requirements become tougher to meet

Sandra Pico is poor, but not poor enough.

She makes about $15,000 a year, supporting her daughter and unemployed husband. She thought she'd be able to get health insurance after the Supreme Court upheld President Obama's health care law.

Then she heard that her own governor will not agree to the federal plan to extend Medicaid coverage to people like her in two years. So she expects to remain uninsured, struggling to pay for her blood pressure medicine.