Dozens of AFP-KS Activists Arrive at Capitol to Oppose Medicaid Expansion, Deliver Testimony Outlining Misguided Promises of Expansion
Topeka, KS—Today, Americans for Prosperity-Kansas (AFP-KS) staff and dozens of grassroot activists went to the Capitol to oppose talks of Medicaid expansion highlighting how it will take Kansas’ health care system in the wrong direction.
AFP-KS has long advocated for reforms in the health care market that increase access to care, particularly in rural areas, while also lowering the cost with personal options.
During the committee hearing, AFP Senior Health Policy Fellow, Dean Clancy, made the following remarks in his testimony:
“Medicaid expansion is all-or-nothing. A state cannot tailor its program. And once it opts in, realistically, it cannot get back out. Even when the federal match rate falls, de-expansion will be hard to pull off without political and policy disruption. With a decade of Medicaid expansion behind us, we can see what it means for a state. Nearly every state that has expanded has seen program costs exceed projections. Research from the Foundation for Government Accountability shows Medicaid expansion has cost the average state 157 percent more than initially estimated. In Colorado, Medicaid expansion has cost more than a billion dollars above original projections.”
…
“The biggest problem we face, the root problem, is that In America the patient is not the customer, the patient is the product. This is because 90 percent of health care is paid for by strangers — third parties like health insurance companies, businesses, and government programs — rather than directly by patients. The good news is that, with incremental free-market reforms, we can put the patient in the driver’s seat. We can make our system the best and most affordable in the world instead of merely the most expensive.”
AFP-KS State Director, Elizabeth Patton, previously wrote in an op-ed:
“Medicaid expansion would deny care to the most vulnerable Kansans, who already rely the most on Medicaid for care. It would also drain the state budget and do little to save rural hospitals from closing their doors. Lawmakers would be wise not to expand the broken Medicaid system, but rather to reform the program and return it to its original mission: to serve those most in need of help.”
Read more from AFP-KS on why Medicaid expansion is wrong for Kansas by visiting medicaidmythskansas.com or personaloption.com.
###
