In a recent op-ed piece,
former New Mexico Lt. Governor (under Bill Richardson) Diane Denish
advocated the politically correct, but medically and fiscally ludicrous
party line about Medicaid expansion. Her magical thinking and ill-founded policy recommendation cannot go unanswered.
It is true that "having 25% of our population uninsured is a huge cost." But before we ask where all that money is going, note that at least one quarter of all the uninsured are so by choice. The 2010 Report on Uninsured Americans from the GAO shows that 12-15 million qualify for government assistance but refuse to sign up. Will expanding Medicaid eligibility suddenly make them change their minds?
Next, there is the ever-popular "jobs" card -- the claim that expanding Medicaid will bring billions of free federal dollars into any other state listening to Washington's siren call. Those dollars could then be used, according to Denish, to "sustain our doctors and other health-care providers" and to create thousands of new jobs.
First, those free federal dollars are anything but free. They get added to the deficit, an ever-expanding bill we are passing on for our children to pay. Will the big government advocates ever accept that putting shackles on the future to pay for the present is a bad idea? For proof, they need only turn their gaze to the cradle of Western civilization: Greece.
It is true that "having 25% of our population uninsured is a huge cost." But before we ask where all that money is going, note that at least one quarter of all the uninsured are so by choice. The 2010 Report on Uninsured Americans from the GAO shows that 12-15 million qualify for government assistance but refuse to sign up. Will expanding Medicaid eligibility suddenly make them change their minds?
Next, there is the ever-popular "jobs" card -- the claim that expanding Medicaid will bring billions of free federal dollars into any other state listening to Washington's siren call. Those dollars could then be used, according to Denish, to "sustain our doctors and other health-care providers" and to create thousands of new jobs.
First, those free federal dollars are anything but free. They get added to the deficit, an ever-expanding bill we are passing on for our children to pay. Will the big government advocates ever accept that putting shackles on the future to pay for the present is a bad idea? For proof, they need only turn their gaze to the cradle of Western civilization: Greece.
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