Posted on 01/29/2020 5:44:30 AM PST by Kaslin
Medicaid was created to be a safety net for the truly needy such as seniors, people with disabilities, and low-income children. Most of us agree: It is important to protect this program for the people who need it most.
Unfortunately, many politicians have lost sight of Medicaid’s intended purpose. In doing so, they took limited resources meant for truly needy individuals and moved millions of able-bodied adults—the majority of whom do not work at all—to the front of the line instead. Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of people with developmental disabilities and other conditions remain trapped on waiting lists, hoping to someday get access to desperately needed services.
This is happening because of ObamaCare’s Medicaid expansion. Under ObamaCare, lawmakers have the option to expand welfare to able-bodied adults in their states. Far too many states made the tragic decision to expand their Medicaid programs, causing enrollment surges. These enrollment surges far surpassed projections—resulting in far more newly eligible welfare enrollees than policymakers promised taxpayers in their states. Sadly—as is often the case with massive, ill-advised expansions of government—it is the taxpayers who are left footing the (enormous) bill.
When it comes to ObamaCare expansion, policymakers, as well as taxpayers, deserve to know why these over-enrollments keep happening. A new report from the Foundation for Government Accountability (FGA) answers that exact question.
According to the report, the main reason states so badly underestimated enrollment is their reliance on Census Bureau data to make estimations. This data does not work for projecting expansion enrollment for multiple reasons.
First, the Census Bureau defines ‘households’ differently than the Medicaid program. For example, for an able-bodied adult who lives at home with his parents and does not work, Census data counts his parents’ income to determine his poverty status. The result is that Census data would indicate that he is not eligible for expansion. But after ObamaCare expansion, his state might learn the hard way that he is eligible because Medicaid eligibility is based on his personal income only. Oops. The enrollment overruns begin.
The Census Bureau also defines ‘income’ differently than Medicaid does. The Census, for example, considers cash welfare as income. Medicaid, however, excludes cash welfare from income calculations, resulting in more people appearing to have lower incomes and thereby qualifying for Medicaid. Oops again.
Finally, there are differences in how the Census Bureau and Medicaid define poverty because the Census Bureau evaluates more data points that could result in a person no longer being under the threshold required to receive Medicaid benefits under expansion.
But ultimately, perhaps most alarming, are differences in data collection. While Medicaid eligibility is determined by tax filing data—cold, hard facts—Census Bureau data is based on income information that is self-reported in a survey. You read that correctly: Critical decisions about whether or not to expand Medicaid to hundreds of thousands of people are routinely being made based on polling data.
The result of the use of this bad data is a massive undercounting of the number of people who could become eligible for Medicaid under an expansion plan. Altogether, the number of adults made eligible for Medicaid expansion could be more than 72 percent higher than census data suggests. The resulting over-enrollment busts state budgets and consume limited resources.
Medicaid expansion is shattering projections and creating a welfare trap for more than 12 million able-bodied adults. Regrettably, taxpayers and the truly needy will continue to pay the price. The takeaway for states that have rightly rejected expansion is simple: don’t trust the numbers. If your state is looking at expansion enrollment estimates, they are relying on Census data—and they’re preparing to replicate this nightmare.
Entire article is based on a false premise.
The program was NOT intended as a last-stop safety net. It was intended to be the camel’s nose under the tent that would allow Big Gov to implement socialized medicine one bologna slice at a time.
+1.
Bad data?? I don’t think so. It was willful, wanton and deliberate. As with most scams perpetuated by leftist politicians, what they said was going to happen with their unicorn dreams once again has failed to materialize.
Now they act surprised. Rinse repeat
The Democrats were buying votes with OUR money. Nothing more, nothing less.
You have that ALL correct. A false premise and a pollyanna conclusion.
You are correct as well. Deliberate and willful ignorance.
It’s not ignorance. Ignorance means unaware. These people knew exactly what was going to happen. Now they blame Republicans for the mess that Obama care brought us. Shaking my damn head…
Bottom line: ‘We have to pass the bill to see what’s in it.”
WRONG on all counts, right from the giddy’up!
25% of the entire population of the state of Montana is on Medicaid.
The Democrat Governor Of Montana is trying to sell bonds (so he has some more money to steal from) and the Legislative Audit Division wants to put out a warning with the investment bid.
The warning is that the bond money might have to be used to pay back the federal government because the Democrats in Montana have put a lot of in eligible people on Medicaid.
25% of THE ENTIRE population of Montana is on Medicare!
Medicaid Medicaid Medicaid.
If you look at the legislative history of MediCARE you’ll see that what I said was actually discussed. The votes were not there to go full-on socialized medicine. So they targeted people over 65 (a group insurance companies would willingly give up as the older you get the more you are likely to cost them).
Once implemented the original plan was to start slowly dialing back the eligibility age. First to 60. Then 55. Then 50. And so on and so on until complete nationalization had been achieved.
The plan hit an iceberg when Reagan was elected in 1980.
Obamacare never intended to cover all. The truly needy were pushed into the states’ Medicaid programs. A typical politicians cynical move.
Obamacare must be repealed so that everyone has access to alternatives without penalties.
The Indians have the Indian Health Service.
They don’t need Medicaid.
Take a look on the internet at some of their clinics.
Those poor Indians.
I don’t have many good things to say about Perry regarding his days as Texas governor, but he DEFINITELY got this one right. He knew it was a ruse...even though the feds promised to pay for something like 90% of the cost.
To just about all of the other governors, including Republicans, it was ‘free money’ being offered by the feds, so they took the bait.
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