TANSTAAFL - and Oregon is starting to learn that "free money" ain't free - Granite Grok

TANSTAAFL – and Oregon is starting to learn that “free money” ain’t free

SHOTOregon lawmakers consider ending Medicaid expansion to shore up budget.

Democratic lawmakers in Oregon are considering ending the state’s Medicaid expansion in an effort to address a $1.6 billion budget shortfall. The state’s Ways and Means committee, which includes both senators and representatives, suggested cutting Medicaid expansion in an effort to curb Oregon’s $1.6 billion budget deficit.

“We are simply laying out possibilities for how the state may deal with the stark realities of a projected $1.6 billion deficit,” Rep. Nancy Nathanson, co-chair of the Ways and Means committee said in an email.  Ending Medicaid expansion, which has led to 350,000 people gaining coverage, would save the state $256 million over the next two years.

CHASER: Self-proclaimed “Conservative” Republicans aim to ruin the budget by keeping Medicaid Expansion but shoring it up with a sales and income tax (mark my words).

Our numbers are smaller than Oregon’s but how much longer can NH Republicans continue to pull financial numbers out of their butts to make it look like we’re “ok” (especially with our impending pension bomb)?  And what ARE they going to do when (after my earlier post, IF??) the DC Republicans start pulling the Federal financial plug?  Are they going to use Glenn Reynolds’ favorite word of derision: “UNEXPECTEDLY!”

Obamacare – the entire thing was a scam to ruin State level budgets and thereby provoking a crisis (re: Rahm, never waste a crisis) that ONLY the Feds could solve – and by States ceding more sovereignty to it.

(H/T: Instapundit)

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