The Danger of States Pushing Medicaid Expansion

Hear interview with Grace Marie Turner, Pres. of the Galen Institute (premiere health care policy think-tank).  Listen to her warnings about what states will experience when they take the big step. In an article on Galen are these warnings:Expanding Medicaid would cost states an additional $118 billion through 2023, according to a recent congressional report.[8] The additional spending surely would crowd out funds for education, transportation, parks, public safety, and other vital state needs.

Charles Blahous, senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, and Public Trustee for Social Security and Medicare, writes: “The latest CMS Medicaid report projects state Medicaid costs to grow by 158% cumulatively over the next decade, assuming all states opt for expansion.[9]

“Even relative to Medicaid’s troubled history of rapid cost growth, these projections point to a coming cost explosion. They embody substantially higher future growth rates than states faced during the last decade. Yet Medicaid already absorbs 24% of state budgets and is described by the bipartisan State Budget Crisis Task Force as ‘crowding out other needs.’”[10]