As the owner of a family of multi-state businesses that employs almost 13,000 people — including more than 450 in Nevada — I am a strong supporter of the decision being made by states to accept the increased federal funding that will be available to expand Medicaid eligibility in 2014.
I want to thank Governor Sandoval for including a plan to implement expanded Medicaid eligibility in his proposed budget. In addition to providing valuable healthcare coverage to thousands of uninsured Nevadans, Medicaid expansion will directly benefit Nevada businesses by helping to reduce and contain the costs they incur for health insurance for their employees.
States that decide not to expand Medicaid — and reject the federal funds that will pay for most of it — are in essence making a choice to shift the future cost of the uncompensated healthcare that will be provided to those who remain uninsured to local businesses in the form of higher premiums.
In addition to the impact of uncompensated care, the cost of providing employer-sponsored health insurance to employees who would have been Medicaid eligible will be shifted to their employers if Medicaid expansion is not adopted.
I strongly urge the Nevada Legislature to support businesses by adopting the Governor’s Medicaid expansion proposal. It’s clearly a policy that will benefit Nevada workers and the people who employ them.
William F. Woody
Owner and Chairman of the Board
Categorized | Letters to the editor
Supporter of federal funding of Medicaid
Posted on08 March 2013.
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Lets’ see. Where should I begin?
These are hard facts.
Medicare and Medicaid services, including the “give away payment to the states” for Medicaid, spent $1.053 trillion in FY2012.
WE TOOK IN 201 BILLION IN 2012 IN MEDICARE TAXES.The government is spending five times what it is taking in on health care. FIVE TIMES.
I’m sure you are capable of reading and understanding charts unlike 85% of Americans, so here is the actual data from the US Treasury.
http://www.fms.treas.gov/mts/mts0912.pdf
These costs are rising at a 9% compounded growth rate from 1980 to 2011 and in the latest CPI was very close to that — approaching 9% — over the last year. THAT IS A DOUBLING IN JUST 8 YEARS. Rule of 72. It’s a math problem.
At this rate the entire economy today will be consumed by health care spending in 20 years. If you are 50 today and live to 85, the Federal Government will attempt to spend $17 trillion, or more than four times the entire current federal budget, per year on health care by the time you die.
Neither of those outcomes is possible and we will reach the point where our economy, government or both are doomed to inevitable collapse.
IN THE END, IT’S THE MATH THAT WILL GET US.
There needs to be a complete overhaul of the heath care system in America and it needs to be done soon.
In addition to the above posting, the attempted shift of Medicaid to the states would normally bankrupt all of them within five years. That’s the arithmetic — there is no state in the union that can shoulder that expense.
BUT, since the states must have a balanced budget, the states will become the BAD GUYS for cutting the entitlements. And cut, they will.
Nevada cannot shoulder that medicaid responsibility without increasing taxes, possibly a income tax and fat chance of that happening. So entitlements will be cut.
Or, we could go to a universal single payer system and take the profit OUT of health care.
Also, there is this.
‘Obamacare’ enforcement measures help set $4.2 billion record in recovered fraudulent Medicare charges last year
http://www.blacklegalissues.com/Article_Details.aspx?artclid=04ecf43b98
A one payer system was already in place. It is called medicare. Put every LEGAL United States citizen under it and then figure out a way to pay for it.
Provide no medical care under this system for any non citizen. They can pay for their own medical services if they need it.
National sales tax, additional fuel tax, are a couple ways to fund it. There are others.
Absolutey agree, that profit must be taken out of health care for it to survive in America. We are running out of time before the health care system is bankrupt.It needs to be fixed now.