Clyburn Reacts to Medicaid Expansion Attack

WASHINGTON, SC – March31, 2010 – Congressman Clyburn issued the following statement today inresponse to attacks from health care reform opponents to the expansion of Medicaid for South Carolina’s working poor.

I am disappointed that upon learning that nearly half a million of our fellow South Carolinians will have access to health care – many forthe first time – some of our state’s leaders seemed to respond bydiscussing the cost of everything, but the value of nothing.   

Medicaid coverage for our fellow citizens will save our health care delivery system millions of dollars annually.  We are moving these people out of the emergency rooms and into primary care facilities.  This will decrease the strain on our hospitals and lead to better preventative care to keep people healthy.  Giving people access to health services lowers costs in the long run – this is what we mean by bending the cost curve.  All of us who have insurance are paying the health care bill for our fellow citizens who don’t have insurance.  They get their primary care through emergency rooms, and their hospitalizations paid for by providers shifting the costs to the insured.   This uncompensated care was one of the reasons why our health premiums doubled over the past ten years and are currently spiraling out of control.

I see this as another attempt to scare people into believing that ‘the sky is falling.’  We have seen scare tactics used time and again inthis country to gin up opposition to major changes like integratingschools or enacting Social Security or Medicare. 

The facts are that the federal government is picking up 100 percent of the tab for the expansion of Medicaid in the first three years.  A lot can change between now and then. When the economy improves, the number of South Carolinians eligible for Medicaid will decrease.  Thesenumbers are based on today’s figures.  In addition, there will beopportunities to revisit this issue in Congress, and I fully expect we will.  We have tweaked Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and theChildren’s Health Insurance Program over the years, and I don’t expectthis will be the end of the discussion on the expansion of Medicaid.

Background: Under the new law, states will receive a 100% match from 2014-2016 for the newly eligible individuals.  There will be Federal funding for 95 percent of the costs in 2017, 94 percent in 2018, 93 percent in 2019, and 90 percent thereafter.  This level of support is unprecedented. The state currently pays 30 percent of the cost of Medicaid recipients.