New Republican meme: HCR will hit states hard on Medicaid costs

I read just now a news release from the office of Mississippi governor Haley Barbour. He says the Senate's HCR bill is going to raise the income requirement so that those with incomes 133 percent of the poverty rate can take advantage of Medicaid. He says states will end up having to raise taxes or cut other services to fund this.

Is he right? I've not yet seen any report that Medicaid would be touched by the Senate bill. But it certainly needs to be. And it's one mechanism by which something near a single-payer system could be achieved. States should raise income taxes on the well-to-do to fund this.

An excerpt from the news release follows:

December 11, 2009

GOVERNOR BARBOUR: FEDERAL EXPANSION OF MEDICAID WILL BURDEN STATE BUDGET
Current healthcare proposals will necessarily raise taxes in Mississippi

Current Congressional healthcare proposals to expand Medicaid coverage to individuals above the federal poverty line would greatly increase costs to the states at a time when tax revenues are shrinking, Governor Haley Barbour wrote in a letter to Mississippi senators and U.S. Senate leadership.

If Medicaid coverage were to apply up to 133 percent of the federal poverty level, the number of Mississippians on the program would grow to more than 1 million individuals, or one in three citizens. Costs to Mississippi taxpayers for this massive expansion would swell to $1.3 billion over the next 10 years.

"There is no way for Mississippi to pay the proposed extra costs of Medicaid except by raising our sales or income tax or both," Governor Barbour said.

http://www.governorbarbour.com/news/2009/dec/11.12.09senatehealthcareletter.html

What would you expect from this former RNC head from a state like Mississippi? I live here; I know. This is just another attempt by the Repubs to kill the health reform bill. The fed government already subsidizes Medicaid and will continue to do so to the level new Medicaid recipients will cost.

And neither does Barbour. The reports I'm reading on the proposal to expand medicaid are vague, just saying it came up during the discussion among the 10 moderate Democrats last week. There was no word on how the expansion would be funded.

This is from a Wall Street Journal write up. It's fairly typical of what I'm seeing. Just the proposal. No specifics:

A companion proposal would expand Medicaid beyond what is already called for in the bill. Under one scenario, people with incomes up to 150% of the federal poverty level would qualify for the program. The poverty level is currently about $22,000 for a family of four.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB126023842809881213.html

provide very little to the impoverished in the way of healthcare. Their standard for qualification is sometimes below the poverty line. So yes, it will cause them to have to raise some taxes in order to pay for it. Some states may have to institute an income tax on their wealthiest citizens. The horror.