Obama's Nazi Health Care Bill Will Bankrupt the States

March 28, 2010 (LPAC)—Details are starting to emerge of the financial burden that Obama's Nazi health care bill will impose on already bankrupt states. Under the new law, states have to expand their Medicaid rolls to include poor, childless adults, estimated to number 16 million nationwide. States will receive Federal funding, under the new law, to cover 100% of the costs of covering this population for the first three years of the program, but then the state share gradually increases until it reaches 10% in 2020.

The real worry of state officials, however, is the population that is eligible but not currently enrolled in Medicaid. There will be no federal subsidy to pay for expanding coverage to that population. Adding to the squeeze, is that states will also have to raise reimbursement rates to physicians to match those of Medicare. As with Medicaid coverage, the Federal government will cover 100% of the costs in the beginning, but then the states will be left with the burden.

If the news reports on this problem are any indication, most states are still grappling with the size of the problem, though a few examples stand out. Louisiana fears losing its state charitable hospital system for the poor, because of the Obama's large cuts in reimbursements to hospitals for treating the uninsured, called "DSH" payments. In Utah, state officials have calculated that they will have to come up with an extra $78 million in 2015 in the first year of the program, but don't have the money. Virginia expects to have to come up with an extra $1 billion by 2020, and Texas, $3.7 billion. Advocates for Obama's bill claim that the burdens will be much less than some states estimate, but these claims are based on fantasies about a non-existent economic recovery, so the reality is probably far worse than these reports from the New York Times and elsewhere suggest, with budget cuts already eliminating health-care infrastructure in many states.

 

OBAMA WATCH. 

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