A question for those who say expanding Medicaid is a no-brainer
Liberal think tanks and columnists have been cranking out the arguments about why a state like Georgia would be foolish to reject Obamacare’s expansion of Medicaid. The expansion, which was made optional for states in the Supreme Court’s June ruling upholding the bulk of the law, would cost Georgia an estimated $2.5 billion over 10 years, according to state officials. Gov. Nathan Deal has said our state will not participate, but Obamacare supporters are trying to pressure him to change his mind.
Proponents of the expansion say hospitals and doctors in the state would receive an additional $33 billion in federal funds during that time frame. To hear them tell it, this is tantamount to finding $33 billion in between the couch cushions; they never mention whose pockets it’s falling from.
“The economics of this are very strongly in favor of adopting the expansion,” said John Holahan, study co-author and director of health policy research at the Urban Institute, in a recent AJC story. Holahan’s study puts the total federal cost of expanding Medicaid via Obamacare at $952 billion over 10 years if all 50 states participate. That’s a 26 percent increase on top of what’s already one of the federal government’s fastest-growing budget items. And, for you non-math majors, that comes out to $95.2 billion per year on average.
But here’s my question: Where do we find another $95.2 billion per year in a Washington that is currently:
- running annual deficits of at least $1 trillion;
- trying desperately to avoid an automatic spending cut (the “sequester” portion of the fiscal cliff) that would shave about $133 billion per year on average (over the next nine years);
- and discussing tax increases on “the rich” that would raise, at most, $160 billion per year?
No one in Washington seems to be talking seriously about deeper spending cuts or sharper tax increases than these, so we are talking about continuing to run annual deficits of well over half a trillion dollars before tacking on $95.2 billion in new Medicaid spending.
And remember: This is just the Medicaid portion of Obamacare. We’re not talking about subsidies for the federal exchanges or new costs for long-term care.
Why is it that none of the “found money” advocates ever explain how we’re going to pay for this new spending? Or do they think Georgia taxpayers will truly believe someone else will handle that federal portion of the cost?
– By Kyle Wingfield
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308 comments Add your comment
md
November 28th, 2012
10:28 am
Here JDW, I’ll help you understand what you yourself just wrote:
“NOTHING about Obamacare places healthcare under government or group ownership or control. The act simply makes it a requirement that people own PRIVATE health insurance and SUBSIDIZES (note the proper word) that purchase for those with lower incomes.”
Start with the operative word in the second sentence…..”requirement”, means no choice, or simply “control”.
The act now controls what we can and can’t do and “requires” us to pay for others that can’t/won’t pay for themselves.
Sorry fella, but that is SOCIALIZING the program……….
JDW
November 28th, 2012
10:45 am
@md…”The act now controls what we can and can’t do and “requires” us to pay for others that can’t/won’t pay for themselves. Sorry fella, but that is SOCIALIZING the program……….”
No more than requiring car insurance is socializing driving or requiring hunting licenses is socializing hunting or requiring a business license is socializing business. All we are talking about here is setting standards which is what government does. If you can’t see that you need to open your eyes.
md
November 28th, 2012
11:01 am
“No more than requiring car insurance is socializing driving or requiring hunting licenses is socializing hunting or requiring a business license is socializing business. All we are talking about here is setting standards which is what government does. If you can’t see that you need to open your eyes.”
Wrong, wrong and wrong……..we don’t have to drive a car, or go hunting or have a business…..all choices that we still have.
Not so with obamacare, the choice has been totally removed…..the TAX will be paid.
From the Center
November 28th, 2012
11:14 am
ScottNATL
November 27th, 2012
10:44 pm
First…the governments money doesn’t come from taxes…they print it…called fiat currency
Scott, thats great news, I guess we can all stop paying taxes, stop worrying about the fiscal cliff and spend like drunken sailors.
Buff
November 28th, 2012
3:52 pm
This is a VERY complicated issue. But, there are many aspects to the Medicaid “expansion”. There are required increases in payments to primary care physicians that WILL take place 1/1/13. In many cases an increase of 20%. This is supposed to be in the part that will be 100% funded by the feds (I know it is still our tax $). But this will happen regardless of what the State decides to do. There are other aspects of the Medicaid expansion that are 100% funded by the feds. HOWEVER, it only applies to the existing Medicaid-eligeble population that is actually participating in Medicaid. Therefore, if only 70% (just a guess) of the eligible population currently participates, the other 30% (when they sign up) comes out of the State’s pocket. This is the part that everyone supporting the expansion misses. The expansion IS NOT 100% funded by the Feds, there are huge $’s that the State will likely have to find to fund its part, some without participating in the expansion, a lot more if the expansion occurs (with participation increasing).
Sorting out the ‘we’ in Medicaid expansionists’ claims | Kyle Wingfield
November 29th, 2012
5:04 am
[...] that $1 billion a year in savings to the estimated $95 billion a year Obamacare would spend to expand [...]
What the Rick Scott Decision Says About the Future of Health Care in the U.S. | The Health Care Blog
November 29th, 2012
11:22 am
[...] Yet liberals’ overwhelming support for state Medicaid expansion, amid Washington’s persistent deficits, raises the question: Where will these Medicaid dollars come from, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Kyle Wingfield writes. [...]
Carly EngageAmerica
November 29th, 2012
4:52 pm
The reelection of President Obama provides a clear passage for health care reform. However, this massive top-down reform comes with major structural flaws.
The ACA promises what it cannot deliver. The reform increases demand while the supply of health care services remains stagnant.