August 26, 2014
by Nick Novak
Originally published by The Washington Times.
The U.S. Supreme Court delivered a major blow to the Obama administration when it decided the federal government could not force states to expand their Medicaid programs. Luckily for taxpayers, quite a few states decided they did not want to expand the program.
According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, 21 states have rejected the massive boondoggle that is the expansion of Medicaid. For taxpayers’ sake, I can only wish it were more.
States like New Jersey decided to expand the federal program. This may become a political problem for New Jersey Republican Gov. Chris Christie, which was recently highlighted in an article in The Washington Times. Other states like Wisconsin, home of Republican Gov. Scott Walker, decided to reject the expansion.
Mr. Christie’s office is making the same mistake that supporters of the expansion are making in Wisconsin. They claim it will save taxpayers money.
According to The Washington Times article, New Jersey would save $181 million next year by accepting the Medicaid expansion. But Mr. Christie’s office conveniently forgets to mention the amount that federal taxpayers have to cover. You know, the taxpayers who are nearly $18 trillion in debt.
Supporters of the expansion are pointing to a similar report in Wisconsin from the state’s non-partisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau. According to the memo, state taxpayers would save up to $521 million over the next two years. However, federal taxpayers – many of whom live in the great State of Wisconsin – would be on the hook for $1.27 billion.
Continue reading at WashingtonTimes.com.