I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents.- James Madison
CLICK HERE to let your elected officials know you oppose the Obamacare Medicaid expansion supported by Governor Nixon and big government spending special interests!
When asked, Missouri voters have overwhelmingly rejected various aspects of Obamacare such as the individual mandate and bureaucratic establishment of a healthcare insurance exchange. There is no doubt that if a vote to overturn Obamacare were placed on the ballot it would pass overwhelmingly!
Supporters of Obamacare and its associated big government spending aren’t taking their defeat during the past legislative session lying down! They continue to pull out all the stops to convince the Missouri General Assembly to expand Medicaid. It’s bad policy, it won’t help those who proponents say it will help and it will increase the federal debt and our share of it!
The debate on whether the General Assembly should expand Medicaid is heating up – again. Two interim committees were appointed by the Speaker of the House and one by the President Pro Tem of the Senate. One of the House Committees, Interim Committee on Citizens and Legislators Working Group on Medicaid Eligibility and Reform,is conducting hearings around the state.
Their first hearing – as will most of their hearings – was held during the day. Because most of those who pay for Medicaid are working and couldn’t show up to be against it, the false perception is that Missourians support expansion. That couldn’t be further from the truth! CLICK HERE to send a witness form against Medicaid expansion.
The Chairman of the committee tweeted, @NoelTorpey: “After reviewing many notes from Medicaid hearings across the state it is crystal clear that Missourians want expansion & reform @ this point”
Now I believe he did that to try to stir up some interest from the opponents. What he failed to realize is that the opponents don’t have time to look on the House website to see that there is an interim committee on Medicaid expansion and that they are having hearings across the state and that they should take off work or rearrange their weekend plans with little notice to attend a hearing that has the recipients and providers bussed in and organized to give the impression that Missouri supported expansion!
Most of us are asking, “what part of NO to Obamacare – any part of Obamacare – do you not understand from Missourians?!”.
Missourians voted overwhelmingly for Proposition C in 2010. They voted overwhelmingly again in 2012 for Proposition E. Missourians rejected the President’s bid for re-election by a comfortable nine point margin! Missourians DO NOT support Obamacare or any of its elements such as Medicaid expansion!
CLICK HERE to send a witness form against Medicaid expansion.
The “selling” points seem to be grouped into four main areas:
1. The federal government will be funding it for “free” for the first few years.
- False – It is not free it is our tax dollars and borrowed Chinese funds (40-46% borrowed). Missouri would not be adding almost $6 billion to the federal debt/deficit by rejecting expansion.
2. Missouri’s Medicaid money will be spent in another state if we don’t’ take it.
- False – Medicaid funding is primarily based on the number of recipients/services delivered. It’s not like highway funds that can simply be moved away from one state to another. Any state will be reimbursed for their Medicaid program based on the recipients/services provided not on what money is available because another state did not expand Medicaid.
3. Expansion will create jobs.
- Unsupported – This is based on a study performed by the University of Missouri and a North Carolina company. Similar studies performed in the past have proven completely inaccurate. Any jobs created by Medicaid expansion are really government jobs being paid for in the private sector by federal and state taxpayer money.
4. Better healthcare outcomes will result when more people have access to government provided healthcare.
- False – There is no reliable data available to support the statement. In fact, Oregon’s Health Insurance Experiment results show that expansion DOES NOT result in anything but nominal healthcare outcome improvements but DO significantly increase healthcare facility utilization and costs.
Your immediate attention is required to prevent more government spending. CLICK HERE to send a witness form against Medicaid expansion!
The interim committee is comprised of many “pro” expansion health care providers. They are doing an inside job in supporting expansion. The special interest groups are out in force stacking the hearings in support of expansion. I’ve seen it first hand with the transportation and organization that takes place before and at these meetings. We need to let them know the legislature made the right decision NOT TO expand Medicaid during the session and that they should not expand it! CLICK HERE to send a witness form against Medicaid expansion.
One of the financial rating service, Moody’s, has downgraded Missouri’s outlook to negative on credit rating. Why? Our extreme reliance on federal funds which will only get worse with Medicaid expansion putting our state’s credit rating in danger was given as the reason.
Implementing Medicaid expansion will not only exacerbate the reliance on federal funds but place the state at financial risk with no way to pay for the expansion WHEN the federal government changes the rules. Let there be no doubt they will change them at some point – they have in the past and absolutely no reason to think they won’t in the future!
But it’s not only the cost to state taxpayers of nearly $6 billion in federal funds but the Kaiser Family Foundation data projects it could cost the state anywhere from $1 – $3 billion of state funds through 2022. Missouri taxpayers cannot afford to expand Medicaid. CLICK HERE to let your representative and senator know you OPPOSE Medicaid expansion.
Thank you for your activism. Grassroots soldiers have shown they are effective all across the state. You have already been seeing the grassroots impact in statements from legislative leaders saying NO to expansion. Without consistent support and backing, it will grow more and more difficult for them to continue to say NO!
Now it is time to reinforce your NO vote to your legislators. We must remain engaged to protect our liberties!
Sincerely,
Carl Bearden
Executive Director
United for Missouri
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I’m sure medicaid expansion would be better. But, the private insurance I pay a premium of $478.00 every 3 months that has a $10,000 annual deductible. I have a wife and 5 children supported on $9.00 hour job. Keeping a job in the current economy has been hard. If I had a major illness it would wipe out money for my children college education. If medicaid does not expand then more private non for profit organizations that work in the medical care area would need to raise funding to take its place.
What if someone could make monthly payments to support have a great medical care such as medicaid. Could health insurance companies bid to run medicaid and create a savings?
It is not the proper role or function of government to provide healthcare. Government provided healthcare has played a major role in the increasing cost of healthcare in the US. However, we are doing so and it isn’t likely to change. Government should be more efficient in providing current services rather than expanding broken systems such as Medicaid.
It is without merit to expand Medicaid. Healthcare outcomes do not appreciably improve as proven in the Oregon Healthcare Insurance Experiment results but utilization and costs skyrocket. Government’s role is not to be our savings account or backup provider.
While they should never have gotten into them, government “charges” us for Social Security and Medicare so they are obligated to provide them. It’s a telling story that they cannot manage these programs so that they are cost effective much less efficient. Throwing more money into a broken system such as Medicaid is not the answer.
To the contrary, it’s the out-of-control health insurance system which is behind the outlandish medical costs. Medicare has ceilings on what it is reasonable to spend, even taking into account overhead, facility maintenance, and salaries. We are the only First World country that does not guarantee basic health care to all its legal, and even illegal, residents. That is the shameful situation. I have MS, and can only work part-time, have no health insurance, but have too much in assets to qualify for Medicaid. I am who Obamacare was meant to help, who, through no fault of my own, simply have no place in the system. We need a socialized system and could take that of many other countries as a model: health care is as basic a need as food, and any country which cannot tolerate people starving to death in the streets should not tolerate people dying alone in their houses for lack of access to medical care. Obamacare will fail because it is silly to just play along with the medical insurance companies and the status quo: throwing healthy young people into their maw, ripping them off for nothing, is not going to work, nor should it. We need fundamental reform and guaranteed state health care for all Americans.
Obamacare will fail because government should not be in the healthcare business.