“Never let a crisis go to waste.”
— Rahm Emanuel, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden and whole host of other Leftists
The titanically stupid China Virus shutdown – is (God help us, hopefully) temporary.
Leftists want to make the government expansions taking place in its name – permanent.
Emanuel wants to abuse the titanically stupid China Virus shutdown – as an “opportunity to do things you think you could not do before.”
Clinton wants to abuse it – to expand government screwing up medicine for most – to government “universal”-ly screwing up medicine.
Biden is aiming biggest of all. He wants to abuse it – to “fundamentally transform” America. In addition to being a terrible idea – it is yet another lame Biden attempt to glom on to the terribly awful Barack Obama.
We the People think America is pretty great. We would, however, LOVE to fundamentally transform Washington, D.C.
Oh – and….
Schumer, Pelosi Set to Unveil ‘Rooseveltian’ Relief Package
Because of course. Because Franklin Delano Roosevelt only extended the Great Depression by more than a decade with his, foundering, floundering government flailing failings.
Speaking of more government further screwing things up – get a load of this nonsense.
The Importance of the Medicaid Fiscal Accountability Rule:
“To help the country deal with the coronavirus epidemic and the negative ramifications from businesses closing and the associated surge in unemployed and furloughed workers, Congress has passed three relief bills.
“One concern Congress has sought to address is the enormous strain states will face from much lower income and sales tax revenue than expected.
“Congress has provided assistance to states by raising the percentage that the federal government reimburses state Medicaid expenditures by about 10 percent for the remainder of the emergency.
“Some are proposing that Congress build on this and send significantly more money to states through Medicaid.”
We have temporarily expanded Medicaid coin to states for the duration of this government-caused China Virus debacle. Ok…I guess.
But for Leftists – too much government is never enough.
“Some” want to permanently expand Medicare. That’s what the “Medicare Fiscal Accountability Rule (MFAR)” would do.
Thereby expanding the federal boot-print on the medical system and states’ necks…forever.
All committed under the cover of the China Virus FREAK OUT!!!.
Who are the “some” pushing this MFAR nonsense? Why it’s the Progressive Policy Institute (PPI).
Allegedly less radical than the rest of the Left – PPI promises us:
“Radically pragmatic ideas for moving America beyond ideological and partisan deadlock.”
“Radically pragmatic” – is like “wetly dry.” Or “jumbo shrimp.”
There is nothing pragmatic about Leftism.
And what PPI is proposing for Medicare – is radically Leftist.
Because what the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) – the federal regulatory body proposing MFAR – is proposing for Medicare…is radically Leftist.
CMS – is looking to expand the power of CMS. Shocker:
“(E)ver since Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion, the system has begun to fall apart. Obamacare essentially forced states to expand Medicaid and spend more money on the entitlement program…
“As a result, federal Medicaid liabilities have ballooned out of control….
“(T)he proposed cure is worse than the disease. It would breathe new life into the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) — the very entity responsible for Obamacare’s troubled implementation in the first place.”
Well that’s an entirely terrible idea.
“Currently, Medicaid is funded through a combination of local, state and federal funds. The federal government provides a match to each state of 50 to 75 percent of what each state spends itself on the program.
“That match effectively operates like paying the states to spend more money on the program….
“While the match is problematic, fixing it shouldn’t involve Washington giving orders to the states on how they can run and fund their own Medicaid programs, which is exactly what MFAR would do.”
As with all things:
More government – means more money wasted by us.
Making a Bigger Mess of Medicaid:
“(MFAR) would…substantially increase regulatory costs….
“(S)tates would have to provide a report on each health care provider that paid a provider tax for Medicaid. All supplemental payment plans would have to be reauthorized by the federal government within three years of MFAR going into effect.
“Furthermore, MFAR would require state governments to not only identify each provider that received a supplemental payment, but also include the provider’s employer identification and national provider numbers, the specific amount of the supplemental payment, and the service that was provided to the patient.
“And states would be required to do that every three months.
“States will push much of these new reporting requirements onto health care providers. This will hit doctors with small practices the hardest since they will be least able to absorb the cost.
“That, in turn, will affect Medicaid patients, as more doctors will find it too costly to treat new Medicaid patients.”
Red tape much?
As with all things:
More government – means more money taken from us.
Is Trump’s Medicaid Reform Plan a Hidden Tax?:
Answer: Yes, it is:
“Imposing restrictions on the methods states use to fund their Medicaid programs will result in more taxes — likely a lot more. States would be compelled to transfer funds from other local programs into Medicaid while raising taxes elsewhere.
“Current federal law allows the state of Iowa to reduce Medicaid taxes on retirement homes since most residents in these facilities are not enrolled in the program and pay for services with personal funds.
“The CMS is considering instituting the Medicaid Fiscal Accountability Rule to override state law and reverse this practice. The move would significantly increase costs for seniors….”
More taxes much?
We sincerely appreciate the Trump Administration’s ongoing attempts to make government more transparent and responsible to We the People.
Most unfortunately, MFAR misses the mark – by far.
It should be scrapped.
And the Administration should go back to the Medicaid reform drawing board.
This first appeared in Red State.