So Far, Not So Great: Medicaid expansion already costing taxpayers

Ohio Gov. Kasich’s Obamacare Medicaid expansion 

has already cost taxpayers more than $3 billion

From Ohio Watchdog (h/t Kirsten Hill)

By Jason Hart | Ohio Watchdog

Americans’ tax burden is already $3 billion heavier because of Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s expansion of Medicaid under Obamacare.

By putting more able-bodied, working-age childless adults on Medicaid than Kasich projected, Obamacare expansion is reducing incentives to work and threatening traditional Medicaid recipients’ access to care faster and at greater cost than anticipated.

After Kasich expanded Medicaid unilaterally, a state panel approved $2.56 billion in Obamacare spending for the expansion’s first 18 months. The money was meant to last until July, but it ran out in February.

Kasich’s Obamacare expansion cost $323 million in March — 84 percent greater than estimates revised just six months earlier.

Kasich’s Obamacare expansion cost more than $3 billion from January 2014 through March 2015

Using monthly figures released by the Ohio Department of Medicaid, the Republican governor’s Obamacare expansion cost slightly more than $3 billion from January 2014 through March 2015.

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Click here to contact your state Senator.

Ohio primary bills and Photo ID Lobby Day info

Photo credit: oxlre.org

These just in from Ohio Tea Party Patriots via Marianne:

Ohio's Turf in Play There is a bill that just passed the House that would push our primary date back another week.  That would mean six more states would do their primaries before us, making Ohio less relevant in the process.   Also, Ohio is a winner take all state.  That means the candidate that received the most delegate votes, receives all the delegate votes, rather than the ones that actually voted for the candidate. Assuming Governor Kasich intends to run for President, if he received one more delegate vote than all the other candidates, he would receive all the delegate votes from Ohio. Why would our legislature want Ohio to be LESS relevant in an election cycle.  Could it be because Kasich is concerned about the lack of support he'll garner from his own state, especially since our state budget has expanded under his leadership?   Could it be because Kasich went against the will of the people and his legislature when expanding Medicaid, which is now 33% higher than projected? Could it be because Kasich continues to lie about Common Core and insult the parents of the children forced to deal with it, while he sends his girls to private school? If they should be changing anything, it should be the "winner takes all" rule.

It's About the Party Not the People Unfortunately, this battle over turf happens at every level, Federal, State and Local.  The role of the Party is to protect the Party and its turf, that is the only way to be successful in the party's agenda, whatever it may be. So how do we protect the people?  It starts at the local level. Become the Party.  Ask yourself: Who is my precinct rep in my county party? If you don't know, find out by calling your Central Committee Chair or your County Board of Elections.  If you don't have one, run for the office.  All you need is five valid signatures on your petition (always get more). Your precinct rep is your voice at the local level.  Know who they are or become one. If you need help, let CTPP  know.

Photo ID Lobby Day Just a reminder for this Wednesday's Photo ID Requirement Lobby Day: WHEN: Wednesday, April 29th: 10:00 a.m. - Attend press conference 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. - Meet with legislators WHERE: Ohio Statehouse Atrium (East Entrance) If you are unable to attend, please contact your state Representative and Senator and let them know that you support voter photo identification.  Ask them to show support and co-sponsor the legislation. Click here to contact your representative   Click here to contact your Senator # # #

Gov. Kasich and Medicaid Expansion

In the wake of the passage by Representatives in Columbus of a two-year state budget that contains funding for Medicaid expansion, here’s part of a column from The Washington Examiner on Gov. Kasich and health care:

John Kasich should be punished for expanding Obamacare

By Philip Klein | April 23, 2015

Ohio Gov. John Kasich has made clear that he's seriously considering running for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. If he formally announces, it will be important for conservative voters to punish him for his expansion of President Obama's healthcare law in his state.

Kasich is currently polling in the low single-digits, has no clear path to the nomination, and the grassroots aren't exactly clamoring for him to run. Yet he is being egged on by a group of Republicans who want to see the party move in a direction that's more comfortable with a larger role for government.

Though on the campaign trail he'll insist that he's a warrior for limited government, in reality not only did Kasich decide to participate in Obamacare's fiscally destructive expansion of Medicaid, in doing so he also displayed a toxic mix of cronyism, dishonesty and executive overreach.

A 2012 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court made it easier for states to reject Obamacare's costly expansion of Medicaid — as many governors prudently chose to do.

But in February 2013, despite campaigning on opposition to Obamacare, Kasich crumbled under pressure from hospital lobbyists who supported the measure, and endorsed the expansion. When his legislature opposed him, Kasich bypassed lawmakers and imposed the expansion through a separate panel — an example of executive overreach worthy of Obama.

Kasich cloaked his cynical move in the language of Christianity, and, just like a liberal demagogue, he portrayed those with principled objections to spending more taxpayer money on a failing program as being heartless.

"Why is that some people don't get it?" Kasich asked rhetorically  at an October 2013 event at the Cleveland Clinic, which lobbied the administration heavily for the expansion so that it could access a stream of money from federal taxpayers. "Is it because they're hard-hearted or cold-hearted? It's probably because they don't understand the problem because they have never walked in somebody's shoes."

Kasich's defenses of his decision to expand Medicaid are built on a mountain of lies, which have been doggedly chronicled by Ohio native Jason Hart (currently with Watchdog.org) for the past two years.

One of Kasich's recurring defenses has been that he was simply making sure that money Ohio taxpayers sent to the federal government got returned to the state. That argument could theoretically pass muster if it were a situation in which money not spent by Ohio were automatically funneled to other states, as with the economic stimulus bill. But that isn't the situation with Medicaid expansion, the funding for which is only spent in states that agree to participate.

It's also worth noting that although the federal government picks up the full tab for the expansion in its first three years, starting in 2017, states will have to start pitching in and by 2020 will have to cover 10 percent of the costs. As it is, Medicaid is crippling state budgets and is everywhere among the largest state expenditures.

Kasich has also emphatically tried to claim that the expansion of Medicaid has nothing to do with Obamacare. This is ridiculous. The Medicaid expansion is one of the central parts of the law, which is why the administration is fighting so bitterly for states to adopt it. According to the latest estimate by the Congressional Budget Office, Obamacare spends $847 billion over the next decade on expanding Medicaid — representing roughly half of the expenditures in the law.

Read the rest here.

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Voter Photo ID Lobby Day

From our friends at the Ohio Christian Alliance: 

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Politically incorrect translations

Just some politically incorrect humor from youngcons.com:

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April 15 Tax Day

It's April 15. File your returns before the end of the day.

House Bill 34 - Taking A Stand For Ohioans’ Healthcare

The blog below appeared at the Health Care Compact blog and at the Ohio Representatives' website here:

THE OHIO HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: House Bill 34 - Taking A Stand For Ohioans’ Healthcare

POSTED BY HEALTH CARE COMPACT

By: Ohio State Representative Ron Maag

As in all General Assemblies, protecting the healthcare of Ohioans is a very important issue to those of us in the state legislature. That is why I decided to co-sponsor a bill, introduced by my colleagues Representative Wes Retherford (R-Hamilton) and Representative Terry Boose (R-Norwalk), that I see as crucial to protecting the healthcare coverage of my constituents and citizens around the state.

House Bill 34 seeks to ratify the Health Care Compact, which allows Ohio to suspend the operation of all federal laws, rules, regulations, and orders regarding healthcare that are inconsistent with Ohio laws adopted pursuant to the Compact. I believe that this issue is better served at the state level, by Ohioans who know what we as a state need in terms of coverage.

Restoring the power to regulate healthcare to the states is crucial. House Bill 34 would require that Ohio secures Congress’s consent to regulate its own healthcare standards, freeing us from unnecessary federal regulations and mandates.

The bill would also require our governor to appoint a member to the Interstate Advisory Health Care Commission, which would collect and evaluate information that is needed for these member states to regulate their own healthcare system. Input from all members and states on this commission will be valuable in making determinations for the future.

By placing a firm focus on how to best serve our residents, I believe we can take a step in the right direction in terms of offering Ohioans exceptional healthcare options while removing hindrances from the federal government. I want our citizens to have access to affordable, reliable care that does not encourage a dependence on government services. I will continue to support regulations made by Ohioans for Ohioans.

Please feel free to contact my office regarding this legislation or any other state government related issue. My door is always open as I continue to serve as your state representative. You can contact me at (614) 644-6023 or Rep62@ohiohouse.gov. 

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Do you know where your Representative stands?