julie rovner of kaiser health news watches this closely and joins me now. nk you so much for joining us. so let's first talk about the aca, the parts that affect the aca. how does that money reach people? tell us how it works. >> it basically boosts subsidies by about $35 billion. this is temporary, just two years, but it will particularly help people at the very top and very bottom of the eligibility threshold for the law. people at the top right now if you earn more than four times the poverty level, that's about $50,000 for an individual, you basically get no help. there's this cliff where you suddenly have to pay everything yourself. they'd change that so you would only have to pay 8.5% of your income. that could dramatically reduc premiums for people at that cutoff threshold by as much as half. then people at the bottom would also get larger subsidies so that people up to one and a half times poverty, about $19,000 for an individual, would basically have access to a zero premium silver plan, that's that middle level plan. so they're pretty significant i

julie rovner of kaiser health news watches this closely and joins me now. for joining us. let's talk about the aca. the parts that affect the aca. how does the money reach people? tell us how it works. julie: it boosts subsidies by $35 billion. it is temporary, two years, but will help people at the top and bottom of the eligibility threshold. people at the top, if you earn more than four times the poverty level, $50,000 for an individual, you get no help. there is a cliff where you have to pay everything yourself. they would change that so you only have to pay 8.5% of your income. that could dramatically reduce people at that cut off by as much as half. people at the bottom would also get larger subsidies. people up to 1.5 times already, $19,000 for an individual, could have access to way zero premium silver plan. they are pretty significant increases. judy: it sounds very significant. i want to ask you about medicaid. there is enticement in here as we mentioned for states that have so far chosen not to expand medicaid. how would that work? julie: there ar