GOP Govs Cutting Off Noses To Spite… Obama

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) looks at President Obama.

Five years ago, our health care system was utterly failing millions of Americans. But as the components of the Affordable Care Act have gone into effect, things have steadily improved. The cost of care is no longer spiraling out of control, and more people than ever have access to quality care. 

But about 5.7 million Americans are still waiting for care because they live in states whose legislatures or governors are obstructing the law out of pure political spite, even as their own citizens suffer and die for lack of care. Twenty-four states have chosen not to expand access to Medicaid coverage for the poor and uninsured, even though the federal government is prepared to cover the full costs of the expansion for the first three years of the program and 90 percent of costs in perpetuity after that.

As a new study from the president’s Council of Economic Advisors shows, the impact of these decisions reaches far beyond those 5.7 million uninsured people. States that refuse federal Medicaid dollars are unleashing economic and public health consequences that bring down the quality of life for all citizens. 

The 24 states opting out of Medicaid expansion also have opted out of some 184,000 jobs and $66 billion in projected economic activity, the study reveals. More people using the health care system would mean more jobs in hospitals and clinics, and those workers would in turn spend their money in the local economy. The citizens of Florida and Texas, where Governors Rick Perry and Rick Scott have refused expansion, are each missing out on more than $10 billion in projected GDP.

Besides not getting the economic boost from federal funds, these states also are losing resources to the destabilizing effects of untreated health problems and outrageous medical bills. People who are enrolled in Medicaid are 5.5 percent less likely to face catastrophic out-of-pocket medical costs and 14.2 percent less likely to take out loans or face difficulty paying bills in a given year compared to the uninsured. 

When hospital bills go unpaid, the quality of the health care delivery system declines and costs go up for even those who are insured. And more generally, people who have access to quality health care are more able to participate in the workforce and less likely to die early.

The states that have refused Medicaid funding are, unfortunately, the states which need it the most. Unless additional states sign on to the expansion, two-thirds of the nation’s poor African Americans and two-thirds of single mothers will be living in states without expanded programs.