Buckeye Institute News Alert

Proponents of Medicaid expansion, including Ohio's Governor John Kasich, have suggested recently that "[t]he opposition to [Medicaid expansion] was really either political or ideological," and have claimed that expanding Medicaid has nothing to do with ObamaCare.

As the leading opponent of Medicaid expansion in Ohio, The Buckeye Institute's opposition-as our latest blog explains-does not stem from politics or ideology, but is rooted in our concern for sound public policy.

Medicaid expansion was bad policy last year, it remains bad policy this year, and it will continue to be bad policy with rising and unforeseen long-term costs for years to come. As we have argued:

"[Expanding Medicaid] places unsustainable financial liabilities on future taxpayers. It will provide an additional burden to a labor market that has already been reeling in Ohio, doing long-term damage to the economy and compounding the expansion's direct impacts to the state budget. We have also pointed out that this economic sacrifice is for a program that has not proven to be able to obtain significantly better health outcomes for most recipients and fails to provide a real saving grace to the most vulnerable.".....To Read More......

Further, to suggest that the Medicaid expansion is somehow distinct from ObamaCare is simply not accurate. The Heritage Foundation revealed this week that nearly 71% of individuals receiving coverage under ObamaCare are getting it through the expanded Medicaid program. The Medicaid expansion was a key component of ObamaCare and the Obama Administration's so-called healthcare reform initiative, and to suggest otherwise borders on the disingenuous.

Even more misleading is the revisionist claim that expanding Medicaid extends President Reagan's legacy. Former Reagan Attorney General, Ed Meese, and the Buckeye Institute's president, Robert Alt, set the record straight last year in an article for National Review: .....To Read More......