Thinking seriously about Medicaid withdrawal-Az Rep

The reason to consider Medicaid withdrawal is that Obamacare did not address costs and in fact exploded them.

The proposal by state Sen. Andy Biggs for Arizona to withdraw from Medicaid should be getting more serious attention than it is receiving. Right now, Republicans are voting for it reflexively in committee, as part of the session’s theme of thumbing the nose at the federal government. Democrats and the health care lobby are howling about it, not because they take it seriously, but because, in their minds, it illustrates how wacky Republican lawmakers have become.  Someone, however, needs to start doing some serious thinking about what a state health care program for the poor might look like without Medicaid.

The feds apparently will allow the state to temporarily reduce the Medicaid population as Gov. Jan Brewer has proposed. Whether the reduction will survive a legal challenge remains to be seen.

Regardless, the state faces a Medicaid crunch come 2014. The temporary sales tax will expire in 2013, depriving the state of around $1 billion in revenue. And by 2014, Obamacare requires all states to provide Medicaid coverage to those earning less than 133 percent of the federal poverty level.  (Can you say Government run health care-Socialism)  Arizona currently covers up to 100 percent of the poverty level, one of only seven states to do so. Under Brewer’s proposal that would be reduced to closer to the 34 percent the state covered prior to passage of a ballot proposition in 2000 expanding coverage.

The feds are supposed to pick up most, although not all, of the cost for the expanded population. Nevertheless, Medicaid will continue to be a rapidly increasing expense for the state. Exploring alternatives is prudent. (how about patient involvement in the financial aspects of their care?)