[From article]
States choosing to expand Medicaid take on additional costs due to more people on their Medicaid rolls. The federal government picks up the additional costs for the first few years, meaning it won’t cost states anything extra. Initially at least.
That’s the bait
Over time, however, the feds pay less of the expansion costs. By 2020, they will only cover 90 percent of the expansion cost, leaving the rest to the states. Assuming they keep their word on the 90 percent promise.
That’s the switch.
[. . .]
Medicaid pays physicians about two-thirds of what Medicare pays. The solution under ObamaCare was to raise the amount doctors get paid under Medicaid to the same level as Medicare.
That’s the bait.
Unfortunately, this was a temporary fix, lasting only two years. Beginning in 2015, doctors saw a 43 percent cut in Medicaid reimbursement.
That’s the switch.
[. . .]
“Medicare reimbursement rates are far too low to cover the costs of high-quality medical services, and Medicaid reimbursement is even worse,” according to Alan Reynolds, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute. Mayo Clinic wisely did not fall for the ObamaCare Medicaid bait and switch.
[. . .]
Is any of this a surprise? This was all part of ObamaCare from the beginning. Yet at that time, there was no debate and analysis. Few if any Members of Congress read the bill. Democrats rushed the bill into law cheered on by a giddy media.
Now we are left with a mess, confirming Abraham Lincoln’s admonition, “You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.” The ObamaCare Medicaid bait and switch sure fooled and continues to fool many.
http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2016/01/medicaid_expansion__bait_and_switch.html
January 20, 2016
Medicaid Expansion -- Bait and Switch
By Brian C. Joondeph
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