Governors panicky over Obamacare underfunded health mandates

Both Democrats and Republican governors are deeply disturbed about the Obamacare bill being created by Congress.  Their fear is that the federal government will hand them expensive new Medicaid obligations without providing money to pay for them.

Governor Jim Douglas of Vermont expressed the concern,                                                                     

I think the governors would all agree that what we don't want from the federal government is unfunded mandates.  We can't have the Congress impose requirements that we are forced to absorb beyond our capacity to do so.

Obama had sent Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius to the meet with the governors, trying to push them to pressure members of Congress while other administration officials made the rounds of television talk show.                                                                                                                            

The governors are already facing fiscal problems with the drop in tax revenues due to the recession while at the same time Medcaid costs are skyrocketing.  It is expected that by the National Governors Association that will states will face deficits of $200 billion over the next three years.

The cost of Medicaid for low-income people, which is shared by the federal government and the states, and any increase in the number of people that are eligible, benefits, or payments to doctors would put an additional burden on the states.  There are already some bills being considered by Congress that would require them to eventually pick up a share of new costs.  The governors doubt that they can depend on pledges in other bills that would hold them harmless.

Not all Governors were at the summer meeting of the National Governors Association because many of them, such as Arnold Schwarzenegger of California are already trying to deal with fiscal problems in their own states.  Those that did attend said in interviews and publicly that the bills being drafted in Congress would not do enough to curb the growth in health spending and that if there was a major expansion, they would be stuck with the heavy costs that would ensue.

The governors resistance comes because of expected large gaps in Medicaid funding and that doctors and hospitals are already suffering from low payment rates.  In order to retain their services, it would be the states that would have to increase payments to them.                                                                    

Governor Phil Bredesen, a Tennessee Democrat said he

...feared that Congress was about to bestow the mother of all unfunded mandates.

                                                            

Governor Christine Gregoire of Washington, a Democrat was quoted as saying

...my concern is that if we have to cost-shift to the states, we're not going to be in a position to pick up the tab.

                                                                                                                                          

According to Governor Bill Richardson, a Democrat from New Mexico,

I'm personally very concerned about the cost issue, particularly the $1 trillion figure being battled about.

                                                                           

Governor Bill Ritters Jr, a Colorado Democrat, said                                                                       

There's a concern about whether they have fully figured out a revenue stream that would cover costs, and that if they don't have all the dollars accounted for, it will fall on the states.

 

Under the House bill, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that 11 million additional people would receive coverage that Medicaid and that would increase Medicaid spending by $438 billion over 10 years.  While the final bill is still not completed, but it is estimated that the federal government would pick up the extra costs for about five years and then the states would have to pay their normal share.

One proposal that was rejected by the Governors of both parties was they the states should issue bonds to cover the costs of expanding Medicare.  They let Senator Max Baucus (D-Mont), who leads the committee with a statement by Governor Haley Barbour of Mississippi that there is a bipartisan resistance to the idea of states issuing bonds to pay for operational expenses.

One governor said it would be like taking out a mortgage to pay a grocery bill.

Obviously, the governors don't have faith what they are being told by the White House, about Obamacare:  that the growth of health costs would be reduced which would reduce the pressure on the states budgets.

Apparently, the governors are giving more credence to the Government Budget Office than the politicians in Washington.  Gov. Rick Perry, raising the specter of a showdown with the Obama administration, suggested Thursday that he would consider invoking states’ rights protections under the 10th Amendment to resist the president’s healthcare plan, which he said would be "disastrous" for Texas.
 
For more information about the Governors revolt, go to:
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2009/07/20/governors_balk_over_what_healthcare_bill_will_cost_states?mode=PF

Interview with Governor Rick Perry, go to
http://www.star-telegram.com/804/story/1504240.html

Medicaid federal-state entitlement program for low-income citizens of the United States definition, go to
http://www.answers.com/topic/medicaid

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