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Increasing Medicaid Enrollment Threatens State Budgets

<p>Our worries about health insurance were confirmed last month when the White House told us to expect serious premium hikes for 2017&period; Now&comma; The Foundation for Government Accountability &lpar;FGA&rpar; reports that enrollment in Obamacare&rsquo&semi;s Medicaid expansion has exceeded projections by an average of 110&percnt;&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>To put this into perspective&comma; at least 11&period;5 million <em>able-bodied adults<&sol;em> have signed up for Medicaid in the 29 states with expansions&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The increased costs associated with high enrollment threaten state budget dollars for priorities like infrastructure and education&comma; reports the FGA&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&ldquo&semi;A lot of folks on the left will say that this is a huge sign of success &&num;8211&semi; look at all of these people who need coverage and help&comma;&rdquo&semi; says&nbsp&semi;FGA study author Nicholas Horton&period; &ldquo&semi;My response is that it is not success when you have able-bodied adults who are being trapped in welfare and reducing their incentive to work&period;&rdquo&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>As noted in Horton&rsquo&semi;s report&comma; states&rsquo&semi; share of Medicaid expansion costs will rise to 5&percnt; starting January 2017&period; By 2020&comma; those costs will reach 10&percnt;&period; &ldquo&semi;Every state dollar spent on able-bodied adults in a Medicaid program is one less dollar that can be spent on other programs&comma;&rdquo&semi; argues FGA senior fellow Josh Archambault&period; &ldquo&semi;This is essentially eating up tons of funds at the state level&period;&rdquo&semi;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Before the Affordable Care Act&comma; Medicaid was offered primarily to low-income disabled adults and some pregnant women&period; With&nbsp&semi;Obamacare&comma; Medicaid eligibility extends to most low-income Americans under age 65 in states that have approved the expansion&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The Affordable Care Act is &&num;8220&semi;a welfare program masquerading as healthcare reform&comma;&rdquo&semi; says Rep&period; Bill Flores &lpar;R-TX&rpar;&period; &ldquo&semi;Enrollment projections were nothing but fantasy&comma; cost estimates little more than wishful thinking&comma; and positive health outcomes were grossly overstated&period;&rdquo&semi;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The future of Obamacare is uncertain now that Donald Trump has been elected president&period; The billionaire has promised to &ldquo&semi;repeal and replace&rdquo&semi; Obama&rsquo&semi;s disastrous healthcare law&comma; but has provided few details on the process&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&ldquo&semi;Our path forward is clear&comma;&rdquo&semi; insists Flores&period; &ldquo&semi;We must repeal this unsustainable burden and replace it with real reforms that improve access to quality healthcare at lower prices&period;&rdquo&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><center><strong><br &sol;> To Hell with Obamacare&excl;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>This book was written by Joe Gilbertson of the Punching Bag Post Staff&period; This is the solution to the Obamacare fiasco&colon; <&sol;p>&NewLine;<p> <a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;amazon&period;com&sol;gp&sol;product&sol;1517719704&sol;ref&equals;as&lowbar;li&lowbar;tl&quest;ie&equals;UTF8&amp&semi;camp&equals;1789&amp&semi;creative&equals;9325&amp&semi;creativeASIN&equals;1517719704&amp&semi;linkCode&equals;as2&amp&semi;tag&equals;punbagpos-20&amp&semi;linkId&equals;RBIZUOKRHDNIYOP6" rel&equals;"nofollow">The Opposite of Obamacare&colon; How a free enterprise philosophy would dramatically reduce health care prices &&num;8211&semi; Paperback &dollar;13&period;95<&sol;a><img style&equals;"border&colon; none &excl;important&semi; margin&colon; 0px &excl;important&semi;" src&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;ir-na&period;amazon-adsystem&period;com&sol;e&sol;ir&quest;t&equals;punbagpos-20&amp&semi;l&equals;as2&amp&semi;o&equals;1&amp&semi;a&equals;1517719704" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"1" height&equals;"1" border&equals;"0" &sol;> <&sol;strong><&sol;center><&sol;p>&NewLine;

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