As published in the Columbia Tribune
On August 4, Missouri voters will decide whether the state should become the 38th to expand Medicaid. Proponents of the measure suggest expanding the program would “save” the state money, but a closer analysis suggests the opposite is true: Not only will the program cost the state money, but it will come at the expense of other important budget priorities.
Supporters of expanding Medicaid in Missouri argue that expansion will save the state money. There's a huge problem with that argument. Watch our latest video to see why claims of savings should be met with skepticism.
Medicaid is Missouri’s single largest government-run program, and its costs have grown substantially over the past decade. Without reform, the program will continue to consume more and more of the state’s budget, which means less money will be available for other public policy priorities such as education.
Despite growing concern about Medicaid in Missouri, the issues plaguing the program are not widely understood. This report explains how Missouri’s program works and what has driven costs to where they are today.
On October 9, the Show-Me Institute's Elias Tsapelas and Patrick Ishmael submitted testimony on the costs of Medicaid Expansion to the Missouri House Subcommittee on Health Care Reform. Click on the link below to read the entire testimony.
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: Medicaid costs in Missouri are expected to increase drastically again next year. This yearly refrain will continue again into State Fiscal Year (SFY) 2020, as indicated by the recently released state department requests for next year’s budget. The exploding cost of Medicaid is something my colleagues have written about extensively, especially since the passage of Obamacare in 2010.
