Medicaid Expansion Leads to State Budget Shortfalls: Jonathan Williams on At The Core

ALEC EVP of Policy and Chief Economist Jonathan Williams appeared on American Family Radio’s At The Core to explain how Medicaid expansion may not only lead to worse medical outcomes but also put states on the hook for any financial shortcomings down the road.

We’ve seen now 40 of the 50 states expand Medicaid under Obamacare as Washington DC, continues racking up $34.5 trillion in debt. Unfortunately, states are making some of the same mistakes and growing government – a growth they are obligated to pay down the road.

This is actually one of the things that I’ve talked to state lawmakers about – if or when Washington reduces the dollars going to the state governments, they’re going to be the ones left holding the bag. From everyone I’ve talked to at the state level, they don’t want to be left in that position.

The expectations and the estimates of what states think they’re obligating themselves towards with Medicaid expansion are always wildly off. This could be catastrophic to taxpayers and state budgets all across the country. If we look at the 40 states that have expanded, we see states like Indiana that just announced a $1 billion shortfall in its Medicaid budget, after being one of the early adopters that put in conservative guardrails around the program. So even those types of hybrid expansions are not living up to the hype.

Listen to the full interview here.