The Politics Of Medicaid Expansion And Obamacare Repeal

Federalist ^ | 24 October 2014 | John Daniel Davidson

[Lorianne]

With the midterms looming, Obamacare politics are again prominent. But some Republican candidates find themselves defending that law. ___ With midterm elections looming, the politics of Obamacare are again coming to the fore—only this time it’s not just Democrats making the case that the law’s Medicaid expansion is good but also some leading Republicans, chief among them Ohio Gov. John Kasich.

This week Kasich staked out the rather untenable position that Congress should repeal Obamacare but keep the Medicaid expansion part, as if they’re two different things. “From Day One, and up until today and into tomorrow, I do not support Obamacare,” Kasich said Monday, then added: “I don’t really see expanding Medicaid as really connected to Obamacare.”

Recall that Kasich bypassed his state’s Republican-controlled legislature last year to expand Medicaid, invoking his Christian faith and musing that when St. Peter asked what you did for the poor, you “better have a good answer.” His answer, presumably, will be that he helped the poor by taxing the people of Ohio and trapping the poor in Medicaid, a deeply dysfunctional program that provides the worst health coverage in the country and the expansion of which is a major feature of Obamacare.

[stephenjohnbanker]

Kasich is a fraud

[Buckeye McFrog]

Too many Crony Capitalists out there in love with the Medicaid program.

Just like the SNAP program.

[Ray76]

See tagline

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

The easiest way to handle Medicaid is to sweep the problem out of federal hands, for the most part: make all Medicaid funds direct “per poverty capita” block grants to the states, and with general guidelines, leave it up to the states how to distribute that money to health care for the poor. With strict limits on what percent of that money can be spent on administrative costs of the program.

Say, based on a state getting $100m, it can spend 5 million of that on administration, which is bare bones. But that is the limit of the federal contribution. If the state wants to pay more, it comes out of their pocket or co-payment.

Truthfully, this does provide the “Second tier” medical and dental care that has been provided for many years to the poor. For example, someone with a bad cavity does not get it filled, they get the tooth pulled. Unless the state can figure out a way to fill cavities quickly and for less, or is willing to pay for cavities to be filled.

Doing it this was saves an enormous amount of taxpayer money.