From The Washingtonpost.com editorial:
The Post’s View
Va. Republicans need to end their excuses for not expanding medicaid
REPUBLICANS IN Virginia’s House of Delegates are running out of excuses to refuse a huge pot of federal money for expanding health-care coverage to poor people. The legislature this week convened a special session, the product of House Republicans’ baseless refusal to compromise on the health-care expansion. Both Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) and the state Senate have offered compromise plans, responding to the House GOP’s proffered reasons for opposition with more seriousness than they deserve. If the Republicans’ opposition is anything beyond thoughtless or cynical, they should come to the negotiating table now.
The special session was called to agree on next year’s budget. But the battle is over one piece of the state’s financial plan: whether to accept federal funds to expand eligibility for Medicaid, the federal-state partnership that offers health-care coverage to people below and around the poverty line. The Affordable Care Act’s coverage plan depends on this expansion, but the Supreme Court ruled that states could opt out. Virginia is one of those that hasn’t made up its mind, even though the federal government has committed to pay nearly the whole tab, in perpetuity, with tax dollars it is already collecting from every state, including Virginia, whether they expand or not.
Rather than accepting the federal offer and moving on, House Republicans attacked the design of the Medicaid program, insisting that it was too broken for them to expand it in good conscience. Senate moderates responded with a proposed expansion outside of the traditional Medicaid system, offering to use federal cash to buy people private coverage instead. The governor endorsed the idea. The House didn’t budge.
House Republicans then claimed that, even if the expansion were designed more to their liking, they couldn’t count on the federal government to hold up its end of the funding bargain. That argument has never made much sense: The state routinely accepts federal dollars on less generous terms without similar hand-wringing, and the legislature would be able to roll back the program if the feds pulled back on the funding. Nevertheless, Mr. McAuliffe answered that objection Monday by offering an explicitly temporary, two-year expansion of the Medicaid program in Virginia. The House hastily rejected this compromise offer in a committee vote.
House Republicans now insist that the Medicaid fight shouldn’t be part of the budget process. Pass a budget first, they say, then talk about expanding coverage. That argument fails to account for the fact that the governor wants to fund various measures with budget savings projected from the inflow of federal Medicaid dollars. It also amounts to a demand that those in favor of expansion surrender all of their leverage, which would be a lot more credible if House Republicans showed any interest in sorting out the Medicaid issue in good faith. Rather, their latest fall-back excuse seems to be more of the same: a desperate, trumped-up objection that exposes how weak their substantive case really is.
House Republicans are just lame. Their decisions are costing Virginians hundreds of thousands of dollars. They are grasping at straws. All that federal money helping people who are not covered by any insurance is going to waste. Are these bastards just mean or are they stupid?
We cannot trust the federal gov’t to pay for it all. In fact they will not.
And once enacted, it is IMPOSSIBLE to end. All it will be is a tool for the Democrats to use to describe any roll back as “heartless” and use it to buy votes.
As for those “savings.” What savings? Is McAuliffe already counting chickens before they hatch? Is he ACTUALLY planning to spend money that he doesn’t have? If the Medicaid EXPANSION is being paid for by the feds….where does he get to “save” money? Nothing in the regular budget changes.
We cannot afford this boondoggle.
Virginia and other states that are pushing back – are doing themselves a disservice by not taking on Medicaid expansion. The cost of not taking it will exceed the costs of taking it. McDonnell passed the reform part and decision over to the MIRC – because he even knew that he could not reject it in good conscience.
@Cargosquid
Why can’t you trust the federal government to pay for what it says it will pay for? There are generally MoUs involved. That is just an excuse and there is no reason to think that the feds will renig on their word. Show any previous history of not following through between Virginia and the feds.
Heartless and buying votes? What is heartless is 400,000 people who are without health care. How will McAuliffe save money? Who pays now if those people get sick? Virginians will pay in the long run.
We cannot afford to not do this.
According to the Commonwealth Fund those states who do not expand their Medicaid program stand to lose BILLIONS:
States That Are Not Expanding Medicaid
Net Loss of Federal Funds ($ millions)
Alabama –943
Alaska –229
Florida –5,038
Georgia –2,862
Idaho –297
Kansas –950
Louisiana –1,655
Maine –294
Mississippi –431
Missouri –2,249
Nebraska –738
North Carolina –2,591
Oklahoma –1,264
South Carolina –807
South Dakota –224
Texas –9,217
Utah –719
Virginia –2,839
Wisconsin –1,848
Wyoming –166
Note that Virginia will lose nearly $3 BILLION. And look at Texas: $ 9 BILLION (Makes you wonder what else Rick Perry can’t remember/has forgotten).
If you are interested, here is the entire article: http://www.commonwealthfund.org/News/News-Releases/2013/Dec/States-Rejecting-Medicaid-Expansion-Costing-Taxpayers.aspx
Cargo has yet to figure out that we all save by this because every uninsured visit costs everyone who is insured; i.e., insurance premiums go up and hospital costs go up. I am beginning to think Cargo has a permanent Republican Kool Aid IV plugged in.
Apparently no one in a decision-making position has ever known anyone who has had serious illness while uninsured. It is a deal breaker. All hopes and dreams go out the window when looking at huge medical bills that resemble a house cost rather than a car cost.
I have known 3 people. One lost her job for embezzling. She was that desperate. She had a catastrophically ill husband with mounting bills and a child who had inherited the same condition. She was a good and decent person caught up in an overwhelming situation over which she had no control. This was at least 25 years ago. The woman had family health care. It had just maxed out.
I have also known someone who found out he had cancer while between jobs. Fortunately a family member paid for that one.
The other person I knew had a heart attack. He has just filed bankruptcy for a previous bout of huge medical expenses. He just walked on the bill and you and I got to pay about $100k for that one.
I probably have known other people and just don’t know about it was handled.
@Moon-howler
Moon – to add to your comment – The spin factor on this is out of control. Employers change plans all the time (every year), doctors are in and out of networks at the whim of the insurance company, rates have continuously increased and there was no open market on the individual level. The healthcare exchanges have opened up the process to where plans can be compared by the non technical person, via pricing. They could complain about the increased deductible, but they do not talk about the increase (removal) of the caps. They tell kids not to get plans, but then have an outcry when Sarah Burke (a Canadian) had no coverage instead of questioning why a skier did not have coverage and personal responsibility. Obamacare did more for opening up the insurance industry to consumer than any other initiative. The insurance exchanges are the most pro-industry, non governmental way of getting transparency and access to plans – one would think they would be welcomed.
Perfect – far from it – fix it – Yes, plenty of room for improvement. Repeal it – NO.
I’m curious … is it *just* Medicare expansion we can’t trust the federal government to pay for, or are there other things? It seems that Virginia receives a significant portion of its budget from the federal government – should we refuse *all* funding on the premise that we can’t true the feds?
Excellent question, Confused.
How come all these defense contractors seem to get paid by the feds? How come Virginia heretofore gets paid by the feds? I think someone is bs-ing us.
Totally agree, Pat.
Look at how popular Medicare is. Comparison via pricing.
The only excuse the R’s in the Va. legislature have given for denying healthcare to thousands of Virginians is that the fed’s won’t pay for it. The D’s introduced a companion bill that would allow immediate cessation of the Medicaid expansion if the fed’s cut off the money. NOW, what’s the excuse?
“Rather than accepting the federal offer and moving on, House Republicans attacked the design of the Medicaid program, insisting that it was too broken for them to expand it in good conscience”
Their right on one point – in Virginia, the design we have for Medicaid is broken. It spans too many Agencies, too many programs. This is the reason why, in the arguements to “de-link” medicaid from the budget and have another session alone on it, it won’t work. The quick fix idea of a seperate program operating somewhat as a VA Health Exchange is a good idea, but still does not really resolve it since, once enrolled, the people still have to work with our current system.
They are the only ones who can fix it. They need to hup to it and stop making up lame excuses.
Actually, the D’s in the legislature have introduced a bill to address most of the issues with Medicaid. NOW, what’s the excuse?
By Cargo’s reasoning, we should kick the pentagon and all military bases [editor note: fixed by request] out of Virginia because the Feds one day might decide not to pay for the military anymore. What a stupid line of logic.
That should be bases, not gases.
I fixed it for you.
Virginia is losing millions of dollars a day in federal funds that are going to go to other states- this money is already alloted and WILL be spent. This is unconsionable.
That’s what we get for voting for Republicans. I take some share of the blame. My choice not to vote in 2012 was a better choice than to validate Republicans.
We get a little bit less of the pie than other states, so that the Tea Party gets to tilt at windmills and pretend that they’re part of the modern world.
Medicaid expansion is not free, but guess what, neither is paying for people who wait to seek treatment when they are twice as expensive to treat in the ER. Oh, and then don’t pay their bills cause if they could pay their bills they would have freakin insurance!
We spend BILLIONS on the uninsured in this state, nothing is free, but the R’s don’t get that do they? I love how they fight to save those fetus’s and yet could care less about saving lives of people who die because they don’t have access to healthcare. How do you reconcile that bizarre line of thinking?
They’re not living in the real world. That’s how I increasingly see it.
They care more about their outdated image of what the world should be than they do the real world around them, or the people in it.
The average conservative Republican :
In 2004, persisted in believing that Sadaam had Weapons of Mass Destruction, when the evidence showed clearly that he hadn’t at all.
In 2006, continued to believe that and continued to think that we should lolwer taxes rather than raise them, because it would be good for our debt.
In 2010 thought that the Tea Party would, rather than moving the GOP further rightward from electability, ignite a firestorm that would transform America into being more right-wing than it actually is. They thought that somehow the entire electorate would be transformed into angry white men.
In 2012 thought that Obamacare was a logical issue to make a stand on.
In 2013 thought that shutting the government down was a clever move.
Denial.
The left has their blind spots also. They are not entirely in touch with reality.
But they’re closer these days than the right is.
I would agree. Some of the left is out to lunch also but compared to the right, it almost seems normal. Almost.
I started saying about 10 years ago that we had entered a particular period of decadence, where Americans were now free to detach from reality. They could believe what they want to believe.
Their ancestors had to keep their political and social aims closer to what was real. There was a chance, if they failed, that they wouldn’t eat or that the machinery of society would break down.
But things are chugging along nicely now. We can fight entire wars under false pretenses if it fills our need to be heros. We can pay in less taxes than it takes to balance the budget for a decade. We’ll all still eat and most of us safely have roofs over our heads.
Everything I’ve seen since convinces me that my theory is correct.
Most of us have no idea how our food is made. Or where our clothes are made. Or how our phones and the satellite technologyu behid them works. Or how our electricity is generated.
Or exactly what the ACA is. Or what our budget looks like.
But we can go on at length with our collective pet theories about what’s wrong with America, or global warming, or why kids should say the pledge of allegiance, and Treyvon Martin and George Zimmerman, and a whole host of unimportant things.
Decadence.
Another excellent point. Sometimes you get blog mistresses who think electricity is magic also.
The feds will not pay 100% of the Medicaid in perpetuity. That’s not part of the deal. So WHEN the feds cut THEIR money for the the expanded medicaid…..who ends up taking up the slack? WE can’t print money. So what are you willing to give up to get that medicaid expansion?
As for this: “Cargo has yet to figure out that we all save by this because every uninsured visit costs everyone who is insured;”
How do we save when we either pay higher taxes for medicaid expansion or…as has been proven, pay vastly increased rates under Obamacare? Our CURRENT rates figured in the ER visits. THOSE rates are going up and the medical care available is being limited.
Please point out where those millions that lost their heath care are saving any money.
Not everyone has anything to do with Obamacare. Not everyone’s rates are higher. Medical care is not being limited.
Too much Faux News!!!
cargo – what is the economic impact to a rural area when a hospital closes? How long do you think a hospital survive with a $5Million dollar charity care and $32Million dollar uncollectable debt? And the Doctors and Imaging centers that are walked out on?
what kind of incentives would VA give a $2.5 Billion dollar industry/company to move here?
Virginia is a taker state anyway, but will get the additional dollars – if we forgo the dollars Virginia will still be paying, just paying for other states to expand.
We do save with preventive care and trying to get the patient out of the ER and into a Doctors office.
I have asked in the past – Are there any contributors to this blog that has had to go through the exchange to get a plan? What was your experience – and not anecdotal, my friend…. because many of those experiences have been found to be slanted, exaggerated or false.
Come on, Cargo- there’s no viable argument here. The fed contribution falls to 90% in the later years. And healthcare cost savings from preventative care will more than cover that. This is a no-brainer- poor Virginians are losing out because of GOP political posturing.
“Vastly increased rates under Obamacare?” Every GOP poster child’s story about increased rates and dropped coverage has been proven false. Some folks ARE paying somewhat more, but for a plan that actually provides coverage- not a “junk plan” with low yearly limits, high deductibles and lots of not-covered services.
Counting Medicaid expansion, coverage for young adults, all the aspects of the ACA, over 15 million Americans now have health insurance due to the ACA, in spite of the huge GOP effort to scare folks, spread lies and deny Medicaid in many states. It could be 30 million if the GOP would actually work for the common good of the American people instead of cynically trying to win a few more elections before they’re completely left behind by the American people.
I realize the tone of this post is pretty harsh, but this issue is a real eye-opener for me on how far politicians will go to try to preserve their power and it has really gotten my hackles up. Denying the poor, the elderly and children quality healthcare to honor some misguided conservative “principle” is just a bridge too far and has GOT to stop.
I think Republicans are forgetting that Medicaid is a federally funded plan in all states. It shares the burden of cost with the states.
I can think of few things more important to spend money on then health care for the needy.
There is nothing stopping anyone from contributing to healthcare for the needy. The issue is the demand that I contribute to healthcare for the needy and whatever other “rights” are dreamed up, e.g. contraception.
The real answer to high costs for a service is as usual to reduce federal involvement. There is absolutely no reason for the Feds to be involved in healthcare and in fact the rapid increase in the costs of healthcare over the last decade correlate well with increased federal regulation.
An example of this is the exponential increase in the cost of college tuition. The large infusion of cash from federal loans/grants has driven a rapid expansion of costly college programs to attract federal dollars and students. As demand has increased, so too has the availability of federal dollars, which creates still more upward pressure on tuition, so that a vicious cycle has ensued.
Although medicaid expansion will likely create a short-term gain, the Feds never bear gifts without strings. There will gradually be more regulation, more watchdogs, more demand, all of which will drive higher costs and the need for higher taxes. In general, more federal benefits drive demand for more federal benefits, which is why spending is so difficult to control. This causes a vicious cycle just like for college tuition.
In the long run, opposition to medicaid expansion is both principled and wise. Just as the reality of Obamacare has been a failure to deliver on the promise of outstanding care at lower cost (the average rate was to fall by $2500, remember?), medicaid expansion will similarly fail to deliver. There will be future excuses as to why the medicaid expansion failed to deliver on its promises, but the intelligent, rational people on this blog know from experience that federal programs can always be counted on for mediocre service (at best) at a high cost.
@middleman
Your comment is just a regurgitation of talking points. I do not believe that 15 million people have obtained health insurance as a result of Obamacare. There have been quite a few that have lost benefits.
@Pat.Herve
It has been shown that newly insured people have been using the ER at higher rates than before they had insurance.
“It has been shown?” Where. Cite the source.
And from the NYTimes:
Kelly, its difficult to take what you have said with anything but a grain of salt because it is mostly unsubstantiated supposition.
Here’s the link to the Harvard study showing ER usage increased:
http://m.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/01/02/study-expanding-medicaid-doesnt-reduce-er-trips-it-increases-them/
As for your blurb above, no source is cited for 4.8 million estimate given by the NY Times. It could have been pulled out of … thin air and thus it substantiates nothing.
New York Times. You mean I didn’t hyperlink it? What would you have done in the good old days before hyperlink?
@Kelly_3406
Yes, it may have an initial increase in the usage of the ER – let the plan work a little first, as it was only on January 1 that the plans came into effect. Some of these people need medical care that they have been putting off for a while and they need it addressed.
The study you quoted in from an experience in Oregon where they had new families enter the Medicaid program through a lottery. Who do you think would apply for a lottery like that – people that were desperate for covered care. Kinda like a first time home owner lottery – and they all bought homes.
Oregon is also a state run program that is rife with problems. (same New York Times article)
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/28/us/politics/deadline-near-health-signups-show-disparity.html?emc=edit_th_20140328&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=29018221&_r=0
@Moon-howler
“It shares the burden of cost with the states.”
THAT is the point. IF the program expands, the states, which can’t print money, will end up paying for programs that they CANNOT afford.
Two things:
1. It’s rich to see the GA talking about “upholding funding obligations”. In order to be “conservative” and balance their budget the GA are doing things like paying localities even less to hold onto state prisoners. That’s right, they’re just transferring those costs to your local government. “Look at our budget surplus, yyaayy!! (not that I’m bitter)
2. Someone above mentioned that “the feds have no businesses in health care” I tend to agree but it ignores their existing substantial involvement.
That substantial involvement includes Medicare, Medicaid, military medical plans for active duty families and retirees, and federal plans. I would say they are pretty involved and involved enough to be experts.
Local jails are often poorly run, especially when compared to Virginia prisons. Inmates in Fairfax detention center don’t get enough to eat. Guards have been known to stir up fights over food. That is what should be criminal.
I remember the year the GA balanced the state budget by using the VRS like an ATM/. How quickly they forget. Have they fully repaid that ‘loan?’ Unless I cannot read, that loan violated the Virginia Constitution.
@Pat.Herve
I have cited a facts that show an increase in ER visits. Do you have anything other than supposition to support your belief that ER visits will reduce over time?
Do you really think that is a valid picture of what will happen long range? There really hasn’t been enough time to determine trends, etc. Plus we know that they aren’t walking on the bill.
@middleman
” And healthcare cost savings from preventative care will more than cover that.”
THAT is such a crock.
“Every GOP poster child’s story about increased rates and dropped coverage has been proven false. Some folks ARE paying somewhat more, but for a plan that actually provides coverage- not a “junk plan” with low yearly limits, high deductibles and lots of not-covered services.”
“Denying the poor, the elderly and children quality healthcare to honor some misguided conservative “principle” is just a bridge too far and has GOT to stop.”
Oh look…yet ANOTHER….”the GOP is going to throw grandma over a cliff” statement.
Nice talking point. Too bad the reality is that people lost good plans and the replacements are for lesser coverage at higher rates. But, you go ahead….keep believing that every family will save $2500 and get MORE coverage.
“15 million”
Please point out where that number came from since Sebellius CANNOT say how many people are signed up and paid for, as per her testimony in front of Congress. She can’t even say how many people merely replaced their previous insurance.
Or…she won’t.
Let’s get to March 31. I bet she will have the numbers around that time. You wanted her to produce numbers a month after sign-up began. I keep hearing about all these people getting screwed. I guess no one un Moonhowlings fits into that description because Pat has been asking. No one has said they got less plan for more money. I think eventually every family will get more coverage for less money. Same for individuals. Will it happen all at once, no. Not until the tweaking begins.
Remember that insurance companies have been milking their customers for years. They still have a few tricks up their sleeve. When a CEO of an insurance company makes 10 million annually, that should tell you something.
@Cargosquid
Not everyone has anything to do with Obamacare. Not everyone’s rates are higher. Medical care is not being limited.
Too much Faux News!!!
Since I don’t watch Fox…..its not too much Fox News.
Not EVERYONE’S rates are highers…..just millions of them. And medical care IS being limited.
Doctors and medical facilities ARE being left out of the network.
Deductibles and rates ARE skyrocketing for too many people.
The President DID LIE to the American people. To their faces. Repeatedly.
He and I have never spoken face to face so he didn’t lie to me. My coverage is better.
As for Faux News, it trickles down. You don’t have to watch it directly. I have heard all sorts of people quote their crap who I would bet never watch that channel.
Cargo, are you sure you don’t go lock yourself in a closet and sneak a peek? If not, I am curious why not? Even *I* sneak a peek every so often.
I don’t think we can really make generalizations about obamacare as long as the states are doing their own thing. I would start with medicare if I wanted to make sweeping generalizations. Name me someone who doesn’t like it.
@Kelly_3406
we do not have the facts yet as the plans have just started. The ‘facts’ from the study you have referenced are skewed – in that the lottery participants were all people that wanted and needed immediate healthcare – if they did not want healthcare they would not have participated in the lottery in the first place.
@Confused
Am sure someone has already mentioned it Confused–it’s not Medicare, it’s Medicaid. Virginia gets 50% of its Medicaid funds from the Fed and 65% of its funds for CHIP from the Feds. If I understand correctly, the Feds will fund 100% of the cost of the EXPANDED Medicaid cost for 3 years and then 90% out beyond 2020.
Here is an excellent article to answer Doubting Thomas Cargo continuing concern and doubts about savings:
http://www.thecommonwealthinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/medex_pays_for_itself.pdf
It provides some very interesting information from the Commonwealth Institute in Richmond. From their mission statement”
“The Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis provides credible, independent and accessible information and analyses of fiscal and economic issues with particular attention to the impacts on low- and moderate-income persons.”
One of its areas of interest is health care for the poor. Again from their mission statement:
“The Commonwealth Institute analyzes the health care policies of the Commonwealth with a particular interest in how those policies impact the health security of low and moderate income people. Reports and analyses from the current year are posted below, including a growing body of research on the impact of the Affordable Care Act on Virginia.”
Kelly,
The increase is 7%, that is true. But I wonder, once people begin getting regular care from their primary, if that number doesn’t decrease significantly. As for now, I have always said, health care should be a right in a civilized society, not a privilege.
For someone like me, who by the grace of G-d had health insurance PRE MS diagnosis, I can tell you that the overall changes with the ACA are life saving and will prevent so many people from having to declare bankruptcy. Had I not had insurance when I was diagnosed, I can’t even fathom what my health care expenses would have been the last 17 years. I guess for those of us who actually LIVE with chronic illness, we have a better real life understanding of health care coverage.
OH, and lest I forget THE most important aspect, my access to health care! My access to MS treatment, medications, etc. The list goes on Kelly, and it shouldn’t be by pure luck and good fortune that I was covered.
Big surprise, Kelly and Cargo don’t believe the 15 million newly insured number- actually a low-ball number that includes new Medicaid enrollees, 21 to 25 year old’s on their parents policy, etc.
That’s fine- you can believe whatever you want, but the pertinent fact remains- tens of thousands of Virginians are being denied coverage for no good reason. The money from the fed’s will not be saved- it’s already budgeted. 100% of Virginia’s costs are covered, dropping to 90% in the out years. If the fed’s cut the money, Virginia can opt out.
Since when is it “principled and wise” to deny health care, even for a day, to the indigent, the elderly and children when it won’t cost Virginians a dime that they haven’t already spent and won’t get back no matter what? You simply can’t make a reasonable argument for this.
@middleman
Oh look! You’re doubling down on a made up number.
Because the administration just put out that they’ve had 6 million sign up. SIX Million.
Didn’t they say that they needed SEVEN million just to break even? And this six million isn’t broken down on whether these people are paid up, medicaid, previously uninsured, or replacing insurance.
So…. six million signed up for Obamacare. 6 million have lost insurance.
Virginia can opt out. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! There is no politician alive that cuts benefits once they are enshrined. None.
Of course we can make a reasonable argument for this. We do not have the money to expand medicaid without breaking the Virginian budget in the long run…..unless you have some programs that you want to cut? Or how much more in taxes do you want to owe?
Now, saying that we pay out too much in Virginia taxes is just silly.
Apparently you missed some of the Bill Clinton cuts back in the 90’s.
The premise is very basic. No person in a civilized society should be without healthcare. If you CHOOSE to go without Cargo, would you then support allowing that person to suffer and die?
He apparently thinks we should be paying for other people’s health care because that is what *I* have been doing for the past..oh my whole life.
I don’t want to pay for people walking on their bills.
@Elena
But that is not what Obamacare does. It does not provide them with health care. It doesn’t even seem to be providing them with health insurance in most cases.
It promised to do two things. Provide more access and lower costs. FOR EVERYONE.
That was a lie.
If you want to debate about providing healthcare for everyone….. that’s a debate to have. But Obamacare is not that debate.
So…how would you provide this healthcare to EVERYONE? You don’t seem to want to pay for those that go to the ER…so how do you cover them? Free gov’t healthcare for everyone?
@Moon-howler
No…I’m saying that if you want to expand Medicaid…you WILL be paying more in taxes.
Paying more in taxes or paying more in premiums. I am not sure which is worse. Oh wait, paying more in premiums is worse because it keeps going up exponentially. My taxes haven’t.
Cargo, my friend, you just aren’t listening. The 6 million number doesn’t count the new Medicaid enrollees, the under-25 youngsters added prior to the exchanges, etc. And that 6 million number will likely grow to around 7 million by the end of the month.
States opt out of federal programs all the time, like the school lunch program, etc. As I said earlier, there is a bill in the Va. legislature right now that would cut the Medicaid expansion immediately if the fed’s cut funding. Here’s a link to the actual language allowing states to opt out of federal programs:http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=d18_1389344281
Six million have NOT lost insurance. Boehner got 4 Pinocchio’s for saying just that. The vast majority of those folks got better plans for less money. Their old policy’s were “cancelled” because they didn’t meet minimum requirements.
Man, Kelly talks about “regurgitating talking points,” but that is actually the pot calling the kettle black. You and Kelly need to look beyond the conservative media for a more factual assessment of the situation.
I repeat, I have still not heard any reasonable argument for Virginia not expanding Medicaid, independent of how one feels about the ACA.
Cargo and Kelly, here’s a link explaining my 15 million figure: http://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2014/01/03/millions-of-people-have-health-insurance-because-of-obamacare
If you’ll notice, the 9 million number they discuss was on January 3, 2014 when direct Obamacare sign-ups were at 1.1 million. It’s now at 6 million and climbing, so you add the extra 5 million to the 9 million to get 14 million. Add the additional 21 to 25 and Medicaid sign-ups since January and the last of the direct Obamacare sign-ups, and 15 million is a very reasonable number.
If the GOP hadn’t blocked Medicaid expansion in the states that needed it the most (and who get by far the most federal tax dollars back per dollars paid in), a reasonable estimate would be 20 million total. And if the cynical GOP machine hadn’t bankrolled a major campaign of lies and fear against the ACA, who knows?
From Kelly: “The real answer to high costs for a service is as usual to reduce federal involvement. There is absolutely no reason for the Feds to be involved in healthcare and in fact the rapid increase in the costs of healthcare over the last decade correlate well with increased federal regulation.”
So, Kelly, how do you explain declining Medicare costs?http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/05/30/medicare-health-care-costs-decreasing/2366399/
I was an early Libertarian theorist, being a hot-rodder and an auto racer. In the early 1970’s the first thing I did to a car was take the “smog junk” off so it would go faster. I strongly suggested to anyone who would listen that the government should leave me alone to do what I wanted.
But I was also an outdoors-oriented person and I witnessed the air quality around here in summer and the stream quality in the 1970’s. I read about why the pollution was happening and what we could do about it. I got a job in the air-quality field in the late 1970’s, where I have been ever since. I watched the auto manufacturers being dragged kicking and screaming down the road to lower pollution and better fuel economy by the federal government. I watched the blue sky come back in the DC area.
It became clear to me that the government was the ONLY entity that could have cleaned up the air. It wasn’t going to happen on its own, just like healthcare reform wasn’t going to happen on it’s own (and PLEASE don’t tell me it wasn’t broken- 15 million folks and counting would argue with you). There’s a lot wrong with the ACA, but it can be finessed, just as all large new initiatives need to be. There is still NO realistic plan from the other side.
Great comments Middleman, thank you 🙂
@middleman
“Cargo, my friend, you just aren’t listening. The 6 million number doesn’t count the new Medicaid enrollees, the under-25 youngsters added prior to the exchanges, etc. And that 6 million number will likely grow to around 7 million by the end of the month.”
Middleman, my friend, you are inventing things.
You have no idea what that 6 million number covers, if its even accurate, because that is the ONLY number that has been released. That nine million is bogus. Even Sebellius admitted that they didn’t have any info to back up those earlier numbers.
The GOP didn’t block a thing. The states followed how it was set up. And there is no need to lie. Sebellius and Obama and the Democrats have done enough lying about the ACA and shown enough incompetence so that the GOP doesn’t have to.
The reduced Medicare spending is due to the reduced payments to Medicare by the gov’t. They used that money to “pay” for the ACA. That is what Congress is now attempting to “fix” with the “doc fix” because so many doctors are starting to drop out of Medicare. As was predicted. The USA Today article is yet another puff piece repeating gov’t talking points.
And the GOP doesn’t need a plan. Its not the job of the fed’l government to do this.
The 6 million number covers sign-ups to Obamacare.
The GOP in the state legislatures blocked Medicaid expansion in other states as they’re doing in Virginia, which is the topic of this thread. Are you saying you don’t believe that?
The reduced Medicare spending is due to many factors, one of which is the ACA, which is what the article in that left-wing, liberal, socialist rag USA Today said.
If it’s not the federal government’s job, then who? It wasn’t fixing itself. You and I may have been ok with the system, or thought we were until a major illness caused us to hit the yearly maximum or be denied for pre-existing condition, but many less well-off were suffering.
@middleman
The 15 million number reflects exactly what I thought it would be. 2/3 of the number are new medicaid enrollees and young adults (<26 years old) covered by their parents' plans. These are the people that get free coverage paid for by someone else.
If this is such a great accomplishment, why doesn't Obama just take it one step farther? He could issue an executive order to cover adults younger than 30 years old by their parents' plans and to extend medicaid to everyone else who is not covered. Voila. Instant universal coverage.
Of course the reason that he does not do this is that it would bankrupt the system. Obama has already extended free coverage to the maximum number he can get away with.