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Health/Medical Title: Repeal It: ACA Even Less Effective as More States Mull Medicaid Opt-Out Repeal It: ACA Even Less Effective as More States Mull Medicaid Opt-Out Kate Hicks Web Editor, Townhall.com Jul 03, 2012 11:41 AM EST
For all the talk about the taxation issue associated with the ACA, it’s worth noting that a major storm’s a-brewin’ in the states over Medicaid expansion. In the five short days since the Supreme Court ruled that the feds couldn’t withhold existing Medicaid funding from states that opt not to expand, many governors have expressed ambivalence about opening the rolls. As Katie mentioned yesterday, Rick Scott (Florida), Bobby Jindal (Louisiana), and Scott Walker (Wisconsin) have all flatly refused to expand their states’ programs. Terry Branstad (Iowa), Chris Christie (New Jersey), Phil Bryant (Mississippi), Nikki Haley (South Carolina), Mitch Daniels (Indiana), and Bob McDonnell (Virginia) have also expressed reticence, if not outright refusal, to take on the new program. Even Rick Snyder of Michigan won’t commit to expanding Medicaid, citing budgetary concerns. Indeed, these same fiscal issues are the primary concern with expanding Medicaid, as states fear they’ll be roped into paying for a program that they just can’t afford. Although states would only ever have to chip in 10% of the program’s cost – and that not until 2017 – that’s still an astronomical sum of money. Florida, for example, believes it will cost taxpayers $1.9 billion to cover their share of the program. And in a time when economic recovery is still an uphill climb, governors are loathe to saddle their citizens with even higher state taxes. Of course, Medicaid isn’t merely a fiscal matter; the program was intended to provide an option for low-income individuals to have health insurance. And if states opt out of expansion, then there’s a whole class of people who will remain without insurance:
The Supreme Court-mandated option to "opt out" of the Medicaid expansion, however, could potentially leave millions Americans uninsured. Currently, Medicaid is a joint federal-state program that provides health care to certain poor Americans, such as children and the elderly. In 2014, President Obama's health care law would open up Medicaid to anyone with an income under 138 percent of the federal poverty line -- so long as their states have agreed to the new plan. The expansion of Medicaid, according to the Congressional Budget Office, was expected to make available health care coverage to 16 million new people. That accounts for half of the 31 million expected to get coverage from the Affordable Care Act. That a state government would opt out of Medicaid expansion is less a reflection on its concern for the poor and uninsured, and more indicative of its concern for long-term viability. As Gov. Haley said, South Carolina wants to help the uninsured; it just doesn’t want to go bankrupt in the process. Of course, that still means there are millions who will remain uninsured – and ameliorating that, after all, was the whole purpose of the Affordable Care Act. Indeed, between finding that many small businesses and individuals will pay the tax rather than provide healthcare, and this Medicaid quandary, the ACA won’t so much accomplish its stated goal. Instead, many will remain uninsured and see their taxes rise, rendering them even worse off than before. By allowing states to opt out of Medicaid, the Chief further undermined the ACA, and made the case for repeal even stronger. After all, if it fails to insure a meaningful number of Americans, then not only is it a bad, fiscally irresponsible policy; it's a failed one. To increase the insured at the expense of the taxpayer is wrong; but to have little effect on the number of insured while raising taxes on those who can't afford it is wrong and pointless. Disaster is on the horizon if this law goes forward; for even if states do expand the Medicaid program, they’ll begin to see deleterious effects on their economies in a few years’ time. Repeal will be hard work, but it’s the only way to stop this absolute mess of a “reform,” and institute real, meaningful change in the healthcare sector. Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest This means that Mitt's state of Massachusetts (and others) shall carry the burden increasing costs on those that refuse. Mitt/0bama 2012! YEA!
#2. To: buckeroo (#1) This means that Mitt's state of Massachusetts (and others) shall carry the burden increasing costs on those that refuse. Mitt/0bama 2012! YEA! So I'm curious what the Messiah and his cronies are going to use to threaten those states who refuse to implement ObozoCare??? Higher rate of taxation?? Less Federal funding for other things?? You will do as I say and you will like it?? The beatings will continue until morale improves?? That idiotic law is so loosely written that they could conceivably mandate whatever the hell they want!! Choosing and voting for a presidential candidate is like picking which STD you want to suffer from…. #3. To: CZ82 (#0) The whole of ACA is ridiculous. I honestly do not believe anyone gave a thought as to the overall picture of what they are/were doing. For one thing, the number of FEDERAL EMPLOYEES (new) is actually unknown, but projections are upwards of 16,000 people. Just the salaries and perks for these people would blow a normal budget--for crying out loud, that is over 2x as many people as the whole county where I live!!! And, of course, with new people, you need new office space(s), as they're spread over many departments, agencies, bureaus, boards, and committees. And, naturally, all these entities need staff, with the appropriate equipment-- and we all know the feds do nothing on the cheap--remember the $600 hammers? Well, they'll be spending a couple of thousand dollars each on computers which will be less reliable than my old Dell was or the HP--bought off the shelf under $600 each! And no doubt because there are no qualified American citizens who can write software, it will be necessary to import them from Asia, and somehow work it to where these folks can become citizens in the process. When all is said and done, we, the people, will find that there are 49 conditions covered under this grand insurance scheme--and 45 of them will require nothing more than 2 aspirins and call me in the morning--and that prescription/diagnosis will be available through a call to your local medical board, which is manned by imported chimpanzees or orangutans! The other 4 situations covered will require a copay of $10,000 and a waiting list of 17 years for cataract surgery, 6 months on appendicitis, 2 years and 6 months for toncills, and there is a debaste as to what the 4th condition will even be.
#4. To: rowdee (#3) The whole of ACA is ridiculous. I agree with everything you said except for that they didn't know what they were doing.. They have been building this legislation for 30 years or so with the intention of using it to take away our freedoms, it was never intended to "fix" Healthcare.... It is also written to where major parts of it can be re- written in the future as they desire to keep us from getting around all the new rules.... So as far as I'm concerned they knew what they were doing... (and I hope they get what they deserve and that it's very painful)... Now... the only thing that may save is they didn't make it foolproof and it can be repealed with a majority vote instead of 60!! The problem with that is how many of the RINO's won't vote for repeal, which means you will need some of the Dems to cross over... Choosing and voting for a presidential candidate is like picking which STD you want to suffer from…. #5. To: CZ82 (#4) I think there are too many of them who are too stupid to see they are being manipulated, and so they vote as they are told to. JMO.
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