The Maine Center for Economic Policy (MECEP), a Democratic think tank, is spreading misinformation about the Medicaid expansion proposal currently under consideration in the Legislature. In a brief entitled, “Debunking Myths About Health Reform Dollars for Maine,” MECEP’s Christy Roix Daggett says Republicans only oppose Medicaid expansion because of “overall ideological opposition to President Obama’s Affordable Care Act.”
“Fierce and unremitting political and legal battles over this 2010 law have spread many myths. As Maine lawmakers once again debate accepting federal health care dollars to expand Medicaid, dubious claims cry out for careful consideration in light of the facts,” says Daggett.
So what are these “myths” and “dubious claims”?
According to Daggett, Maine’s Medicaid spending does not wreck the state budget: “Opponents of going forward with the expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act argue that it will place too great a burden on the state budget. In fact, the federal government will fund almost the entire expanded Medicaid program through 2020 and 90% thereafter.”
First of all, even without expansion, Medicaid is consuming a great and growing portion of Maine’s general fund. That is a fact. Furthermore, Daggett conveniently ignores both the Alexander Group report and the Department of Health and Human Services cost projections. She ignores the fact that some within the expansion population are not eligible for 100 percent reimbursement in the first 3 years and she ignores the administrative costs of expansion, 50 percent of which must be covered by taxpayers. She also ignores the costs of hiring 80 or more state employees to handle an expanded program. In short, she ignores that practical facts of expansion and hides behind the Obama administration’s funding promises. You can find a detailed look at the cost of expansion here.
Daggett’s next falsehood involves the implications of rejecting expansion. She says, “Rejecting Medicaid funds will not reduce the federal budget deficit.” This is patently false. Rejecting Medicaid expansion does not mean taxpayer dollars flow to other states; it means they do not get spent. States that have decided to reject expansion have already reduced the federal deficit by billions of dollars.
But Daggett’s most heinous claims have little to do with cost.
“Expanding Medicaid offers vital help to the poor, seniors and disabled,” said Daggett. This is false. The Medicaid expansion population includes able-bodied young adults — not seniors. And providing free medical care to these able-bodied young adults will consume resources which otherwise could have been used to fund care for severely disabled individuals on waitlists. Expanding Medicaid will not impact seniors and will delay care for disabled individuals. So why is Daggett cloaking her policies in compassion for the elderly and disabled?
It’s amazing that a Democratic think tank continues to promulgate and espouse talking points that have no basis in reality. But the most astonishing part of Daggett’s statements is her apparent belief that one can only oppose Medicaid expansion because of lingering ideological opposition to Obamacare. DHHS Commissioner Mary Mayhew, one of the foremost opponents of Medicaid expansion, is a Democrat. Tell me more about her ideological opposition to President Obama…
The more you look, the more you find and both the ‘looking’ and the ‘finding’ can get rather expensive…..mammogram hysteria skewered by current research but where are the refunds?
While not exactly distortions, they definitely are ‘false impressions’ and ‘evasions’; like this bit of political history on the KOCH brothers & Harry Reid:
“Back when the Kochs gave to Democrats…
By: Byron Tau
March 19, 2014 12:15 AM EDT
The Koch brothers are the Democrats’ public enemy No. 1. But there was a time not too long ago that billionaires Charles and David Koch were modest Democratic Party donors.
Though the Kochs have poured untold millions into conservative and libertarian causes over the years, the political action committee for their privately held Koch Industries also has given money through the years to Democratic causes and candidates — including Mark Pryor, Mary Landrieu and Chuck Schumer — as part of the influence-peddling game that many corporations and wealthy donors play.
Those donations from Koch Industries Inc. Political Action Committee, or KochPAC, include nearly $200,000 to Democratic candidates and committees as recently as 2010 — including a $30,000 donation to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.
(Also on POLITICO: Democratic legacies on the line in 2014)
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and other top Democrats have made vilifying the Kochs part of a deliberate political strategy to rile up the party’s base and drive the party’s small-dollar fundraising efforts. Last week, Reid blasted the two brothers in a blistering Senate floor speech, accusing them of trying to hijack the political process with their donations and of meddling in the country’s foreign policy to protect their own interests.
But Reid’s fellow Democrats collected KochPAC money as recently as 2012.”
” But the most astonishing part of Daggett’s statements is her apparent belief that one can only oppose Medicaid expansion because of lingering ideological opposition to Obamacare.”
It’s astonishing, but not suprising. These are the same people who claimed people who didn’t vote for Obama didn’t do so because they’re racists.
jooouli
don’t regret it
get it right here