Ohio’s Obamacare expansion has cost taxpayers $5 billion

Posted by Jason Hart @ Ohio Watchdog / October 20, 2015 

(Editor's Note:  Sadly Ohio Watchdog is no longer in business so this link will not work. RK)

September brought another milestone for Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s Obamacare expansion, and a heavier millstone for taxpayers stuck bearing the costs.

Kasich’s decision to put working-age Ohioans with no kids and no disabilities on Medicaid has cost federal taxpayers more than $5 billion in less than two years.

The Ohio Department of Medicaid reported spending $394 million on Obamacare expansion in September. Ohio’s Obamacare expansion has cost more than $300 million every month since December and more than $370 million every month since July.

After just 21 months of enrollment, Obamacare expansion costs dwarf state spending on programs long recognized as the state government’s basic responsibilities.

By contrast, Kasich’s Office of Budget and Management reported spending $133 million on justice and public protection and $206 million on primary and secondary education in September.

Even when non-General Revenue Fund spending on Obamacare expansion is excluded for the sake of an apples-to-apples comparison, Ohio spent nearly as much on Obamacare expansion as on public safety and K-12 education combined.

Kasich, a Republican, expanded Medicaid to bring new Obamacare funding to the state. The expansion has been rocketing past cost projections since taking effect in January 2014.

Blocked by the Ohio General Assembly, Kasich went to the obscure Ohio Controlling Board for permission to spend $2.56 billion in Obamacare money for the expansion’s first 18 months; in 14 months, that money had been spent.

By June, Kasich’s Obamacare expansion had cost taxpayers more than $4 billion. By September, the cumulative cost of Obamacare expansion benefits in Ohio was $5.2 billion.

On the presidential campaign trail, Kasich boasts of building Ohio’s rainy day fund to $2 billion in four years; at home in Ohio, his Obamacare expansion cost more than $2 billion in the past six months.

Obamacare expansion funding — which Kasich describes as “Ohio’s tax dollars” he is “bringing back” to the state — is 100 percent new federal spending until the end of 2016, providing a boost to the state budget on the shoulders of federal taxpayers.

If spending continues at its current rate, taxpayers will be on the hook for more than $4 billion in Ohio Obamacare expansion costs every year. Ohioans will have to pay a state share starting at 5 percent in 2017 — increasing to 10 percent by 2020.

Free-market think tank Opportunity Ohio recently published a study estimating the state’s future Obamacare expansion costs under a variety of scenarios, taking into account the possibility of federal funding cuts below the promised 90 percent.

Opportunity Ohio projects Medicaid expansion will cost Ohio taxpayers $5.3 billion from 2019-26 with no changes to Obamacare, or as much as $19.9 billion if Congress cuts the federal share so expansion is funded at the same rate as traditional Medicaid.

With or without further changes to Obamacare, the law’s Medicaid expansion appears certain to cost Ohioans more than advertised by the Kasich administration.

“There’s no question that state taxpayers are going to be on the hook for more than we were told initially,” Greg Lawson, a policy analyst for the free-market Buckeye Institute, told Ohio Watchdog.

Lawson said it’s likely the state will cut Medicaid benefits for pregnant women, poor families, the elderly and the disabled to help pay for the cost of putting working-age adults with no kids and no disabilities onto the welfare program.

In his most recent budget, Kasich proposed cutting Medicaid eligibility for pregnant women and women with breast or cervical cancer from 200 percent of poverty to 138 percent of poverty. The General Assembly blocked the proposal.

“We have to be very careful that we’re not robbing Peter to pay Paul,” Lawson said. “In this case, robbing the Peter who everybody supports being on Medicaid to pay for the Paul who a lot of people think doesn’t need to be on Medicaid.

Lawson said meaningful reforms to Medicaid require flexibility President Obama’s administration has refused to give. That’s one reason the Buckeye Institute advised against Obamacare expansion.

The governor’s office failed to respond to questions about Ohio’s Obamacare expansion costs.

This Election Will Be One of America's Most Historic

By Rich Kozlovich

I've stated, and believed, the most important election in the 20th century was the 1928 election.  was in my view the greatest President in the 2oth century.  When Harding died he assumed the Presidency two years in, and was elected in 2024.  He could have served another term in 2028, but he hated being President and refused to run.  

became President and set a chain of events into motion leading to   All that's finally being challenged after almost 100 years of the Deep State, massive spending, massive borrowing, and the eventual complete take over of the Democrat party by extreme leftists embracing each of the 1963 published forty five communist goals to destroy America.

In 2018 I predicted there was going to be a blood bath for both the Democrat and Republican parties.  The Democrats in elections, and Republicans in their primaries. That’s happening, albeit much more slowly than I initially predicted.

But this election is the kicker. Trump now controls the Republican party. The “old guard” has been pushed to the side line and are either retiring or not running because Republican voters, with the exception of a few states, won't tolerate TDS any longer.   

I keep coming back to this. After all the rhetoric, all the rationale being offered by pundits, the fact is American’s like Trump for the same reason Lincoln refused to fire Grant. He fights!

The RINO's are America's equivalent of the UK Tories.  Great at promises they never intended on keeping, all the while claiming they're conservatives, never seeing any insane leftist issue they couldn't make their own.   Like John Kasich who claimed he had the right to define conservatism as he saw fit, so he supported Joe Biden in 2020 because Trump was a false conservative. 

Since the RINO cabal has been exposed as Democrats is sheep's clothing, the McCain"whacko bird" conservatives are taking over.

The Democrat party is completely controlled by the Obama cabal.  All tyrants, all racists, all radicals, all socialists, all traitors, all antisemites, all anti Israel, and all this antisemitism isn't playing well with Americans.

Netanyahu's speech before Congress was brilliant in the subliminal message he presented saying, “Our enemies are your enemies, our fight is your fight, and our victory will be your victory."  That was a message that Israel is the canary in the coal mine, and as of this moment is the front line in defense of western civilization.

The idea of a religious war is anathema to western civilization, but western civilization doesn’t get to pick. If a religious movement says they hate you, and want to kill you because you’re an unbeliever, you should believe them and act accordingly. That’s Islam, and Islam won’t stop on it’s own. It’s a religious war.

After this election I believe all that's going to be challenged because their core is a nightmare, and their bench is disastrous, and it was in 2016 with Hillary, and being epitomized by Harris.  They chose Biden because he was the least offensive and still needed massive levels of voter fraud to put them in the White House, and the Obama bench is even weaker than before to the point of non existence.

I've no doubt Kennedy will be back in the Democrat camp by 2028 and could very well be their nominee, along with others like this governor could very well find themselves in leadership positions by then also.   If Kennedy gets back in and takes a leadership role, I think we could very well see RINO conversions to the Kennedy cabal, as Democrats, or a third party mixture of upset Democrats, RINO's, and independents.  

One thing I think is clear, there will be a massive restructuring of both parties.  But, as the journalist said in movie, Charlie Wilson's War, we'll see.