States who expanded Medicaid are among the key obstacles for dismantling this giant black hole that is Obamacare.
Quick Facts:
(1) Obamacare offered a free ride to States who expanded Medicaid
(2) States took advantage of the 3-year free ride as a tool for dumping their individual Healthcare burdens onto the Feds
(3) The Feds would cover the cost and after the 3-year period the States total exposure, staggered by annual increases, would max out at 10%; so they thought.
The problem this has now created is that more than double the expected signed up for Medicaid, nearly 12 million and why not, the Insured doesn’t pay a dime for it. Far worse is that the original cost per person estimates were stated at $3,100 while the actual costs are nearing $7,200 per insured. If you’re wondering, that cost, at the moment, amounts to $76 Billion per year with an expected 10-year cost projected at the rate of current growth of $ 2.6 Trillion all of which is unfunded – mind you, this is just for the Medicaid portion of Obamacare!
Of course the States are opposed to any change to Obamacare because under the current arrangement the Feds are picking up the tab. Waste is rampant as the States have virtually no incentive to be cost-conscious, but as their cooperative costs begin to kick-in the States, particularly those participating in the ACA Medicaid Expansion program, are going to have to come up with funding mechanisms (Taxes, reduced care or perhaps some form of premium co-pay arrangement) to offset the costs of their predatory short-sightedness.
With all this in mind it stuns the mind when you consider that, once again, this massive expansion in free-benefits coverage was taken on without any conscious consideration of the market law known as “no free lunch”; the cost of FREE inevitably gets paid by the Taxpayer who forgoes the favor of their efforts to the consequence of a cause that has only adverse effects.
While you may think it’s righteous and just to virulently oppose Trumps plans to repeal and replace Obamacare you might just take a moment and consider the massive waste and unrecoverable burden that will continue and grow to smother the entire system should he fail!
Curtis C. Greco, Founder