State Republican Legislators Plans to Drop Medicaid may be a Bad Idea...but so what?

Check out this article, "Opting out of Medicaid Not Just “Unthinkable,” but Unwise and Unnecessary."

Here's just a sample:

A few states have begun discussing “a once-unthinkable scenario” — dropping out of the federal-state Medicaid program — in an attempt to save money, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Under one proposal, instead of expanding its Medicaid program in 2014 as the health reform law requires, a state would eliminate the program and give up federal Medicaid funding on the assumption that it could shift most beneficiaries into the new health insurance exchanges that the law will create, where they would get federally funded tax credits to buy health coverage. The state would then cover the rest of the former Medicaid beneficiaries entirely with state funds and somehow come out financially ahead.

This proposal, however, relies on flawed assumptions and would be a terrible deal for a state:

■ Most Medicaid beneficiaries — including those who cost the most to cover — actually can’t be shifted into the exchanges because they won’t be eligible for the federal tax credits. Only people with incomes between 100 and 400 percent of the poverty line will qualify for the credits, which means no poor Medicaid beneficiaries (except for some legal immigrants) will qualify.

Related articles

• States Weigh Ending Medicaid (online.wsj.com)
• Abandon Medicaid, All Ye Who Enter Here? (reason.com)
• States Mull Medicaid Cuts, Possibility Of Dropping Out Of The Program (medicalnewstoday.com)