New revelation means Obamacare revamping likely

Any doubt that Obamacare would be revisited -- or that it was passed prematurely -- vanished with the news that an early-retired couple could earn up to $64,000 and still qualify for Medicaid, taxpayer funded medical care for the poor.

"The fact that this is being discovered now tells you, what else is baked into this law?" said former Utah governor Mike Leavitt.

The Obama administration first downplayed any problem, then said it would look for ways to fix it.

While retirees can begin collecting Social Security at 62, they must wait another three years to get Medicare, unless they're disabled. As it stands now, a married couple retiring at 62 in 2014 and receiving the maximum Social Security benefit of $23,500 could get $17,000 from other sources and still qualify for Medicaid with a total income of $64,000.

That's four time the federal poverty level, which is $14,710 for a two-person household this year.

The expansion of Medicaid -- where states pick up 40 percent and the federal government 60 percent of the cost -- was intended to benefit childless adults with incomes up to 133 percent of the poverty level.

We couldn't blame any early retirees who took advantage of the loophole -- that would just be good financial management.

But unless the loophole is closed, resources will be diverted from those who need them desperately.

And unless ways are found to make health care fiscally viable, the entire system is likely to collapse.