Obamacare attempted to transform Medicaid from a poverty program into a creeping middle-class entitlement by setting eligibility far above the poverty line. But the Supreme Court ruled in June that states don’t have to play along. Medicaid was already bankrupting or warping priorities in many states. As Mississippi’s Governor explains it -
“States throughout the nation are now looking at the enormous and growing percentage of their budgets already consumed by Medicaid expenses, and many simply cannot fathom shouldering the additional burden of even more Medicaid spending. Mississippi is certainly among those states opposed to expanding the program
“As governor, I cannot imagine directing money away from our children’s education, our ability to keep our citizens safe and our ability to provide for ourselves through job creation in favor of funneling more money into a program that addresses none of these other critical needs.
“According to a Milliman report requested by the Mississippi Division of Medicaid, an estimated 400,000 people could be added to the Mississippi Medicaid rolls if we accepted the Obamacare expansion. Such an expansion could result in 1 in 3 Mississippians being on Medicaid and would balloon the state’s associated cost burden.
“such cost increases would obliterate Mississippi’s budget and force us into the position of choosing which other services to kill or maim in favor of funding Medicaid.”
BRYANT: The truth about Obamacare in Mississippi
By Gov. Phil Bryant
October 1, 2012
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/oct/1/the-truth-about-obamacare-in-mississippi-taxpayers/?page=2