Not Dead Yet. That’s the pin you can put on the debate over Medicaid expansion in Montana.
On Monday, I featured the latest news on the Obamacare Medicaid expansion battle from Montana Media Trackers’ Ron Catlett. While the battle will certainly continue, here’s what else I find interesting: former Gov. Brian Schweitzer (D-MT) has been wading back into the debate over Medicaid expansion. (You may recall he went a little silent after being attacked over his “gaydar” remarks last summer- mostly by the Left)
Well, Zach Lahn, with Americans for Prosperity-Montana, asks the question: Which Brian Schweitzer should we trust on Medicaid expansion?
In a 2011 interview with Yes Magazine, then-Gov. Schweitzer admitted that expanding Medicaid would “run the risk of bankrupting Montana.” He knew that expanding Medicaid could bankrupt our state, putting funding for important services like roads and schools at risk. And he actively worked to stop it.
As early as 2009, Gov. Schweitzer was out calling Medicaid “one of the least effective programs in terms of health care in the history of this country. ” Adding, “It is not working for anybody.”
We’re not exactly certain what changed his mind as the Medicaid program hasn’t changed, but Mr. Schweitzer was absolutely right to be worried of Medicaid’s exorbitant costs and poor quality of care. We are too.
Here’s the YesMagazine piece:
In 2014, when the PPACA kicks in, many of the uninsured will be given the opportunity to enroll in Medicaid. With this change, Schweitzer expects the state’s Medicaid population to double, creating a huge financial burden on the state of Montana under the current health care system. But the straightforward rancher-turned-governor isn’t afraid to challenge policies he doesn’t think make sense, no matter how established they are.
“Here’s what I know,” he says firmly, “that unless we challenge the underlying costs of health care … it will bankrupt the states because there’s no way of decreasing the cost of health care under the current system.”
Dennison- GOP: Medicaid expansion will cost state more than $100M per biennium after 2020
Supporters of Medicaid expansion in Montana aren’t being honest about its long-term cost to the state, which is more than $50 million a year by 2021, a Republican state senator says.
The legislative analysis said Medicaid expansion will cost the state an additional $44 million in the 2018-19 biennium, $93 million the next two years, and $119 million the next two years.
“We could end up with one out of five Montanans on Medicaid and have it be two-thirds of our (state) budget,” Thomas said. “I don’t know if we were created as a state to be a health-insurance entity.”
Guest opinion column at Forbes.com- Learn From Other States’ Experience: Don’t Expand Medicaid
Perhaps no state is in worse shape than my home state of Rhode Island, where fully one-quarter of the population is now on Medicaid. Program spending has grown by a billion dollars since 2013—and is $118 million over budget this year. The state budget office estimates this single program will take up nearly one-third of this year’s $8.8 billion budget, squeezing out other spending priorities that are critical to the state.
Perhaps no state is in worse shape than my home state of Rhode Island, where fully one-quarter of the population is now on Medicaid. Program spending has grown by a billion dollars since 2013—and is $118 million over budget this year. The state budget office estimates this single program will take up nearly one-third of this year’s $8.8 billion budget, squeezing out other spending priorities that are critical to the state.
While most states that have expanded Medicaid are traditionally Democrat-controlled, a number of Republican states have also taken the plunge only to suffer similar results. Ohio Governor John Kasich championed expansion in the Buckeye State and has been saddled with rising costs. The program has exceeded cost projections every single month since it first went live in January 2014, and is on track to run $1 billion over budget at the end of this fiscal year.
The fight against Obama’s Medicaid Expansion is not over. http://t.co/K1mXOdnISw #mtpol #mtleg
— AFP-Montana (@AFPMontana) March 10, 2015
Remember last session? Gov. Steve Bullock (D-MT) waited till the end of the session to offer up Medicaid expansion legislation. But don’t worry expansion supporters, Democrats are prepared to fight this time around…
Or maybe not, this Billings Gazette headline seemed to say it all:
Democrats rip Republicans for stuffing Medicaid-expansion bill, but don’t try to revive it