Time to Repeal ObamaCare, Fix Medicaid
Mar 16, 2017ObamaCare is failing. Now it is up to Congress and the new Trump Administration to repeal it and embrace the kind of free market policies that will address massive costs and improve health care. Ohio House Concurrent Resolution 6 does exactly this by urging Congress to repeal ObamaCare and block grant Medicaid. Members of the Ohio General Assembly, including lead sponsors Wes Goodman (R-Cardington) and Keith Faber (R-Celina), should be commended for attempting to keep the heat on D.C. policymakers.
Insurance price premiums continue to rise in Ohio and insurers are dropping out of the Exchange. In fact, while there were 17 insurers in the Exchange in 2016, there are only 11 this year. It is likely that more will drop out next year. Already, numerous counties have only a single insurer. Less competition breeds higher costs.
Then there is the problem of Medicaid.
The Buckeye Institute has long maintained that Medicaid expansion is a bad decision for Ohio. Many of the issues we raised prior to Governor Kasich’s announced support for expansion in 2013 have come true, including the likelihood that the overly generous Medicaid matching rate Washington used to bribe states into accepting the expansion would not be permanent. Fortunately, policymakers in Washington seem to be returning power back to the states, giving them the flexibility to design programs that work for each state’s unique populations. Something The Buckeye Institute has also proclaimed.
Much work must be done to assure that Ohio’s insurance market can return to the type of robust competition it used to enjoy prior to the one-size fits all federally imposed ObamaCare. Many changes to Medicaid, including work requirements, increased use of health savings accounts, and seamless transitions to private health care coverage must also be implemented. Little of this can be done until ObamaCare is uprooted. The Ohio General Assembly is right to make its voice heard on Capitol Hill and within the White House.