Obamacare Will Cost States $118 Billion

The healthcare reform bill passed last year will cost states at least an
additional $118.04 billion through 2023 due to their increased Medicaid costs,
according to a new congressional report.

That’s nearly double the Congressional Budget Office's recent estimate of $60
billion through 2021.

“The enactment of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in March
2010 was the largest expansion of [Medicaid] since its inception more than 45
years ago,” according to a statement from the House Energy and Commerce
Committee and the Senate Finance Committee, which jointly produced the report.

“Half of those obtaining healthcare coverage under the new law will get it
through Medicaid. The committee report provides a state-by-state analysis of the
financial impact the new healthcare law will have on states and demonstrates the
unsustainable fiscal burden this new law will foist upon taxpayers.”

The joint congressional report “is the first to provide a comprehensive
overview of state government estimates regarding the cost of the Patient
Protection and Affordable Care Act to state Medicaid programs,” the report
states.

Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, the ranking Republican on the Senate Finance
Committee, said: “Governors of both political parties were clear when Congress
was debating the $2.6 trillion health law that they could not afford a massive
expansion in Medicaid. Washington didn’t listen and plowed forward instead by
putting 16 million Americans onto the Medicaid rolls to keep the federal price
tag down.

“With this report, we see the true cost to states, who are already facing a
collective $175 billion budget shortfall, of this unsustainable expansion.”

The report’s state-by-state breakdown shows that California will spend at
least another $19.4 billion on Medicaid, and Texas will be forced to spend
another $27 billion — more than the program’s entire annual budget today.

Obamacare will cost Florida taxpayers $12.9 billion through 2023. Louisiana
will have to pay an additional $7 billion; New York, 2.8 billion; and Virginia,
$2.2 billion.

Even a less populated state, Iowa, will have to take on 100,000 new Medicaid
enrollees, and spend an added $250 million.