Obamacare Will Expand State Medicaid Coverage, and Will Further Bankrupt the States, Making Them Totally Dependent on the Feds

Medicaid: Not Just for the Poor Anymore

Gary Allen, in The Rockefeller File, states that the CFR is behind the many regional government plans, which would abolish city, county, and state lines, leaving us at the mercy of federal bureaucrats. They want "federal control of everything since they intend to control the federal government." The goal of regional or metropolitan government is to eventually merge the U.S. into the "New World Order" (NWO): a one-world totalitarian goverment under the United Nations (UN). The global elite's agenda is nothing less than the complete revolutionizing of the very foundations of not only America but the entire world. Such a plan calls for the total restructuring of planetary civilization into an enlightened one world federation in which national boundaries and sovereignty are secondary and "planetary citizenship" in the "global village" is the order of the day.

March 7, 2011

healthblog.ncpa.org - In 1965, Medicaid was conceived as a program to provide acute care for people who had no other resources. As the graph shows, it has been expanded far beyond its original scope. Reformers in the 1990s who wanted to expand it to cover everyone under 65 were successful in passing one expansion after another. As a result, the program is no longer limited to providing acute care to people in poverty.

If you think state Medicaid costs are bad now, wait till Obamacare fully kicks-in during 2014. Some significant provisions to the $2.5 trillion government-run healthcare system took effect upon enactment and a number of benefits are slated to go into effect this year, including tax provisions. Some of the biggest changes are put off until 2014, such as enrollment for government insurance subsidies and the expanded Medicaid program. The Medicaid coverage provisions under Obamacare will result in an enormous expansion of state Medicaid rolls to cover the uninsured population. Starting in 2014, Obamacare mandates states expand Medicaid eligibility to all non-elderly individuals with family incomes below 133 percent of the federal poverty level.

According to the Heritage Foundation, "Governors and state legislators need to start planning their responses and start drafting any applicable legislation for consideration in their next legislative sessions—now. Failure to do so means surrendering control over a large share of their states’ current budgets to federal officials and becoming passive bystanders as—faced with an onslaught of new federal regulation—private insurers scramble to position themselves for an Obamacare market by taking steps that will likely result in less insurer competition, fewer plan choices, and higher coverage costs, all beginning next year."

Obamacare to Bankrupt States Through Increased Medicaid Spending:

The financial burden placed on states by Obamcare is massive; it's enough for a few of them to enter bankruptcy or require a bailout from the taxpayers, courtesy of the federal government. California, Illinois and New York are in serious trouble, and the decline in tax revenue exposes financial irresponsibility and the ridiculous public sector benefit packages thanks to the radical labor unions. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie pointed this out during his recent 60 Minutes interview.

The larger issue with the states is the cost of Medicaid, which is their second largest expense behind education at roughly 21% of their budget. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), which is headed by Donald Berwick, a man who has wet dreams about Britain's government-run health care system, reports that expansion of medical coverage under Obamacare is achieved by putting Americans on Medicaid. CMS projects state and local spending on Medicaid will increase to 41% between 2010 and 2011. States on the brink of financial collapse, well, this will be their tipping point.

ObamaCare: Handing the Bill to the States:

While the constitutionality of the individual mandate has drawn the bulk of the media attention surrounding the states' opposition to ObamaCare, several new cost-analysis studies reveal that the states have additional reasons to oppose the new law. Each of these studies concludes that the provisions of ObamaCare that expand Medicaid eligibility will bankrupt the states. ObamaCare requires states to expand Medicaid eligibility up to 138% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL), which will cause states' Medicaid programs to swell, as millions of new enrollees sign up for benefits nationwide.

ObamaCare Will Bankrupt the States and Then Some:

Senator Coburn (R-OK) and Senator Barrasso (R-WY) have released a report, Grim Diagnosis, analyzing the effects of new federal health care law. It is chock full of important information but one section should be especially worrisome to state governments: Washington mandates will send state costs skyrocketing. Of eight states profiled, the 10-year cost of expanding Medicaid amounts to $41.7 billion dollars. The report also notes a byproduct of Medicaid expansion is increased wait times and overcrowding in the Emergency Room (ER). Doug Holtz-Eakin, former director of the Congressional Budget Office, estimates that Medicaid patients will use the ER 68 million times costing an additional $36 billion through 2019 due to the new health care law.

ObamaCare will bankrupt the states:

This wouldn’t be the first time we’ve posted about this subject, but this is a point that is getting lost amidst the hoopla surrounding the decision of Federal Judge Roger Vinson and the struggle in Congress over ObamaCare: Even if ObamaCare were to be implemented without complaint, the states simply cannot afford it.

This argument is simple: The states say that the government is forcing them to spend too much money on Medicaid — it is crippling their budgets. The government’s counterargument? If the states don’t want to comply to the new rules, then they don’t have to. Simple enough, right?

Maybe not. Many states can’t just drop Medicaid, as that would then put a massive burden for healthcare squarely on their shoulders, a burden they cannot possibly keep up with. However, despite the fear of ERs overflowing and thousands being denied care, some states are looking into alternatives. Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, for example, recently asked other Republican governors if it might be feasible for states to band together to set up their own health-insurance pool for low-income residents.

Whatever comes of the debate over ObamaCare, one can only hope the issue of how states can afford to pay the extra costs will be addressed.