The real cost of Medicaid

As the healthcare changes take place we can expect to see great changes in our state’s Medicaid spending.

The Oklahoman published an article last week (“Oklahoma can’t afford not to reform Medicaid”) that discussed the financial impact Medicaid expansion is going to have, and is having, on Oklahoma. The article pointed out that no matter what the economic condition has been in the past two decades, enrollment in government-funded healthcare has continued to grow even when the economy seems to be doing well. This means that even when the unemployment rate is decreasing, more people are continuing to enroll in Medicaid.

According to the state, by 2012 over one-quarter of the population (26.57 percent) of Oklahoma was on Medicaid. This number is drastically increased from the 2000 statistic of 12.13 percent of Oklahomans enrolled in Medicaid. I think it goes without mention that the “hope and change” we were promised in 2008 to save us from the financial grave the last presidency dug for us didn’t come.

While Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin has done everything in her power to reject Medicaid expansion, we are still seeing astronomical increases in state spending on healthcare entitlement programs. In the 12-year measured period, Oklahoma’s state spending went up nearly 220 percent.

Didn’t President Barack Obama and Rep. Nancy Pelosi reassure us that further government-funded healthcare would be affordable for everyone? As it turns out, the federal government has already cut 7 percent – and $66 million more to go – of the Medicaid reimbursement to Oklahoma, according to The Oklahoman. This is somewhat humorous to me, seeing as the federal government claims it will pay for up to 90 percent of the Medicaid expansion should we decide to implement the Affordable Care Act, according to the Tulsa World.

The Tulsa World explains this conundrum as Congress being aware of the fact that the federal government can’t afford to support Medicaid in its current state.

“In Washington, it’s an ‘open secret’ that Congress has to reduce Medicaid outlays,” Sen. Tom Coburn and Jonathan Small said in the Tulsa World article. “That’s why virtually every major bipartisan plan includes recommendations to reduce the federal dollars given to states for Medicaid.”

In a state where about one-quarter of its population is enrolled in the already failing Medicaid program, how is further Medicaid expansion even a question?

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