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Health Care Fact: States Forced to Pay for Medicaid Expansion
Washington,
Nov 4 -
Think that the budget battles in Michigan have been bad over the past several years? Just wait until the government-run health care is signed into law.
The recent bill unveiled by House Democrats would include an unprecedented expansion of Medicaid, and the states will face another hurdle to pay for it.
Governor Jennifer Granholm just signed a budget that included an 8 percent cut in Medicaid in Michigan because of the state's financial difficulties. Recent reports indicate that the Michigan budget situation in 2010 will be worse than the budget in 2009, which means the state will continue to face difficult situations in the future.
The mandated Medicaid expansion would increase Michigan’s Medicaid population by at least 25 percent and will force the state to help pay for the expansion. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that this will be a $34 billion unfunded mandate on state budgets.
With Michigan already making drastic cuts to its budget, Michigan residents will have to brace themselves for more service reductions and higher taxes to pay for the unfunded Medicaid mandates.
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