Medical “reform” = $37 billion in new *state* taxes

Nashville’s CityPaper reports that state governors are objecting to

...a provision in House and Senate [Obamacare] bills to expand Medicaid to cover anyone with income less than 133 percent of the poverty level, or $29,327 for a family of four.

Since states pay roughly one third of Medicaid, the provision could add billions of dollars in costs to state governments.
...
In a letter to the Senate, Indiana Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels said: “States will likely have to pick up the tab for this extension of Medicaid.  We have estimated that the price for Indiana could reach upwards of $724 million annually.

“These additional costs will overwhelm our resources and obliterate the reserves we have fought so hard to protect.”

For Tennessee, the extra cost could reach $1.2 billion, according to Sen. Lamar Alexander.

Set aside for a moment my I’d-lay-you-even-money suspicion that these Medicaid cost increases appear nowhere in the administration’s “reform” cost estimates.  Let’s just look at the numbers.

Indiana has a population of about 6¼ million.  Governor Mitch’s $724 million/year estimate, evenly-divided (which you know it won’t be), works out to an annual state tax increase of $115 per capita ($460 for a family of four).  For Tennesseeans (population roughly 6 million), it’s worse: $1.2 billion parcels out at $200 a piece.  Factor in the people who won’t pay these taxes (anybody below poverty+33%, for one), and if you’re one of the productive you can probably double these numbers.

Or how about a back-of-the-envelope calculation, starting with a SWAG estimated annual cost of $750 million per state.  The magic number= $37.5 billion - per year.  Not on the federal books.

And if the states pay only 1/3 of Medicaid’s total cost, doesn’t that mean the federal share goes up $75 billion, too?  Hey, I thought once healthcare got reformed, the existing federal programs were supposed to cost less!  (I know, silly me!)

And of course none of this accounts for all the folks who will be forced below the poverty line by Obama’s new energy taxes!

The Obama promise:  I won’t raise your taxes (well, yes I will, but... Look! Unicorns!), but somebody else will!

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And that’s not all...!  (Heh! You wish!):
Crucis has the Americans for Tax Reform’s “List of All Tax Hikes in the Baccus Draft.”  Read ’em and weep.


CityPaper link via Instapundit.

Posted by: Old Grouch in Rants at 17:32:58 GMT | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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