LTE - Medicaid Expansion is Not Free - Granite Grok

LTE – Medicaid Expansion is Not Free

“Letter to the editor” – Concord Monitor

The Monitor has recently published several letters and written a couple of editorials supporting Medicaid expansion in New Hampshire. Every one of these pieces has implied that expanding Medicaid is “free” because the federal government is paying for it. I don’t know if in our race to become an entitlement society we’ve become willfully ignorant, or whether this is a partisan political ploy, similar to the lies selling Obamacare, to shut down debate and marginalize those who might disagree with you, but it cannot stand without objection.

Expanded Medicaid is not free. The doctors and hospitals in New Hampshire will get paid. Under expanded Medicaid, they will likely get paid a half a billion dollars this year, and every year from now on. The fact that the payments will come from the federal government doesn’t make them free. The government can only pass out what it has collected from taxpayers, in this case income taxpayers.

As a New Hampshire taxpayer, it doesn’t really matter whether my earnings are sent to Washington or Concord; the effect is the same. I realize that as an income taxpayer I am part of a minority, but that doesn’t mean we should be run over roughshod by the Legislature, or have our point of view marginalized or ignored. We are the ones who are making the sacrifice, so that you can feel compassionate and politicians can pander for votes by passing out more benefits. We need to have the debate about whether this entitlement expansion is affordable.

THOMAS BRANSCOM

Bow

Doctor’s and hospitals ‘might’ get paid.  In the long run they wont get paid enough–which will effect access and quality of care.   The only real guarantee is that the government will grow, adding bureaucrats, most of them public union employees, who pay dues to the SEIU which then spends them on Democrat campaigns.

Believe it or not, this is the least of my concerns.  I am more conserved with the waste, fraud, abuse, declining care and access, and yes the increased taxes that will follow as the portion New Hampshire must pay grows beyond expectation–expectation as in our 10% and expectation as in the Feds will have to cut their share becasue they have no money to give us in the first place.

We can do better for a lot less.

 

>