Is Ellis County losing millions of dollars each year? Proponents of Obamacare expansion have recently suggested that this is the case. However, I know that isn’t true. How? Because I expanded Obamacare in Colorado.
During the 2013 Colorado legislative session I worked for a Colorado trade association that represented physicians before the state legislature. I was tasked with creating arguments that supported an expansion of Obamacare. The arguments we made then are the same ones being used now, and they simply do not live up to scrutiny.
For example, one of the biggest arguments made in favor of expansion is the “federal government picks up 90% of the cost”. However, I would ask ourselves if ever increasing federal spending has been benefiting us recently? With record inflation, soaring costs, and no relief in sight to energy prices I would argue the last thing we need is hundreds of millions in new federal spending which will only lead to further inflation and even higher costs in our daily lives.
Another argument is “expansion” is actually “budget neutral”. In other words, Kansas should spend hundreds of millions of dollars to hopefully save a few million. This claim is based on the concept of “budget offsets”, which is a fancy lobbyist term for what amounts to a shell game. For example, proponents argue that one way to “offset” the cost is putting prisoners on government insurance. By doing this, the state “saves money” because the federal government is paying for a significant portion of the cost, and thus saves Kansans money. If that seems confusing, it is supposed to. Proponents do not want us to look behind the hood of their proposal, rather just accept their arguments at face value.
Let me be clear. As a person who has an ongoing illness that nearly killed me, and has had more surgeries than I can remember, I support affordable access to healthcare for every single person in our community. However, the idea that more government spending will fix the problem has been proven to be untrue every single time it has been tried. That is why I appreciate our local state Representative Barb Wasinger looking for real solutions to the cost and availability of healthcare. Simply put, we do not need special interest groups controlling healthcare in Kansas, we need dedicated people whose best interests are our community.
Chris McGowne, Hays