BOHICA: Medicaid expansion zooming toward reality in Raleigh

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*So, THIS is what a Republican majority in The General Assembly gets you these days.*

“Parental Rights” is getting slow-walked along Jones Street, but putting everybody under the wasteful, fraud-infested thumb of Medicaid is full-steam ahead:

A bill expanding Medicaid coverage in North Carolina quickly moved through key committees Tuesday ahead of expected votes in the state House of Representatives later this week.

The bill would lead to about 600,000 people gaining coverage. Most are working adults who make too much money to qualify for Medicaid but not enough to afford insurance.

While the bill is expected to pass with bipartisan support, it remains unclear how legislative leaders will reach a compromise on a bill to send to Gov. Roy Cooper (D).

The state Senate passed a Medicaid expansion bill last year that included various regulatory reforms aimed at increasing access to health care, but the House has resisted including those along with expansion.

“Let’s have those discussions, open and productive. And then we can come back with a comprehensive bill that hopefully can get passed by the General Assembly before those deadlines,” said Rep. Donny Lambeth (R-Forsyth), a retired hospital executive who has been working to try to build support among Republicans to expand Medicaid. “We can make North Carolina a better state if we move forward in improving access to care.”[…]

This week, eh?  There aren’t many things that get this kind of speedy attention from the, um, *honorables.* Hospital lobbyists must be doling out the cash by the truckload.

So, it’s not about reforming health care so its delivery is not so costly.  It’s about appeasing Governor Doofus and keeping the cash rolling in.

The John Locke Foundation is all but lost to the Raleigh Establishment.  Occasionally, they allow someone sensible like Jordan Roberts shine through. (Uh-oh.  Mentioning his name in a pleasant manner will likely get him fired — or stick him with the duty of shining John Hood’s tap shoes for the next year.)

In September 2020, Roberts put together an interesting study on the concept of Medicaid expansion:

[…] North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper and state Democrats have fiercely advocated for expanding Medicaid in North Carolina, claiming the program would not require “any state money.”3Cooper proposed that taxes on prepaid health plans (PHPs) and hospitals would pay for the state’s 10 percent share of the costs of Medicaid expansion.4 Whether and to what extent PHP and hospital taxes could cover the 10 percent share remain in question.[…] 

So, taxes on insurance plans and hospitals will cover the cost of expansion, eh?  Hospitals and insurance companies will not simply eat those costs.  They’ll get passed on to those of us not currently feeding at the government trough.

Roberts reviewed several possible scenarios for expanding Medicaid. ALL of them would result in HUNDREDS of MILLIONS in new state spending.

MORE:

[…] Our findings reveal that the two most likely cost and enrollment scenarios that would come about from Medicaid expansion in North Carolina would leave the state with a funding gap estimated from $119.3 million and $171.3 million in the first year.

If Medicaid expansion were to be implemented in North Carolina, this funding gap of $119.3 million to $171.3 million in the first year alone would have to be made up through new state appropriations, increased taxes on managed care plans, or higher taxes on providers.

As the program grew, the funding gap would continue every year and could increase based on enrollment in the program and cost of the enrollees in the future.[…]

Folks, these people who promised us — PROMISED us — smaller government in exchange for a GOP majority are preparing to put a major screwing on OUR ECONOMY, US and OUR WALLETS.

But the *honorables* still get their pockets lined. Apparently, that is the most important factor above all to the folks in Raleigh.

Are you familiar with how bad the VA medical system is?  Medicaid is WORSE. 

Medicaid expansion will also make it easier to expand pediatric sex change operations at  UNC, DUKE, and East Carolina among others.  These services are being marketed to kids as young as FOUR, and — of course — will be financed by US and our expanded Medicaid system.

All that will especially be a windfall benefit for Tim Moore cronies Nelson Dollar and Clayton Somers, who are embedded in key, cushy jobs at UNC. Let’s not forget the NC Hospital Association — whose members will likely get a huge new influx of cash.  Let’s not forget new Rep. Tim Reeder of Greenville, also a Timmy crony and a senior doctor on staff at ECU Medical Center.

Lots of winners in Raleigh.  Not so many anywhere else.