Reports from Washington, D.C., show that Democrats working on the health-care plan they are trying to pass are making sure to add in some bonuses for the states they represent.

Senate Democrats have worked in extra provisions to the reform plans that would give their states special advantages, including financial assistance with Medicaid costs, additional Medicare benefits and extra tax breaks for some residents. Republicans point out that these advantages will shift some of the costs of the plan to other states, including Kansas.

Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, has been instrumental in adding in extra benefits for himself and for his Democratic colleagues.

In September, Reid negotiated successfully with the Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus to ensure that Nevada, Oregon, Rhode Island and Michigan would receive an exemption from having to pay any funds to support Medicaid expansions mandated by the reform.

The federal government would provide 95 percent of the costs of expanding Medicaid in 46 other states for five years, at which time the states would need to pick up the remainder of the tab, amounting to millions of dollars. Exempted states, such as Nevada, would get 100 percent of the costs covered.

Reid’s amendment was centered on providing an exemption for states with the highest unemployment and the lowest Medicaid enrollment.

Although Nevada’s Medicaid enrollment may be smaller than other states now, it is expected to be the state that experiences the most growth in residents who would become eligible under the Baucus plan.

States with Democratic Senators may be gaining advantages, but states such as Kansas could end up at a disadvantage.

“This is what we’ve come to expect from Harry Reid and the Democratic leadership,” Lisa Burgess, spokesperson for the Kansas GOP, told Kansas Liberty. “It is the height of hypocrisy to push a massive government overhaul onto the American people, one that the majority of Americans oppose, but not share in the devastating effects it will impart."

Burgess noted that this is not the first time Democrats have fought to impart additional burdens onto Republican states, as the cap-and-trade efforts, which are heavily touted by the Democrats, would also result in an additional burden being placed on Midwestern states.

“Reid, Pelosi and the Democrats in Congress will continue to push their liberal agenda at the expense of Americans in the Heartland,” Burgess said.

The Baucus health-care proposal passed out of the Senate Finance Committee last Tuesday and now is being consolidated with the House’s more liberal version of reform. Democratic leaders are working together with members of the Obama administration to draft the final version of the reform.

Sarah Little, spokesperson for Kansas Republican Sen. Pat Roberts, said Roberts has been concerned from the start that the legislation would be bent to benefit Democrats and their constituents.

“That has been one of Roberts’ concerns from the beginning,” Little told Kansas Liberty. “However, we will have to see the final bill that is proposed and then try to amend it on the floor.”

Kansas Republican Sen. Sam Brownback has also said he plans to engage in a lively debate once the reform makes it to the Senate floor. Though the Republican Party may be gearing up with a long list of amendments, many of the reform amendments brought up in committee by the GOP were defeated along party lines.

Roberts, a member of the Senate Finance Committee, cautioned fellow committee members that the Baucus bill would be changed dramatically directly before he voted against the reform.

Although the Baucus health care bill was supposed to be seen as a “moderate” bill, and did not include a public option, Roberts warned that once the bill was out of committee, Democrats would twist it into a reform plan that only slightly resembled the Baucus bill.

And now Robert’s concerns that the Democrats would alter the bill to promote their liberal agendas seem to be coming true.

“As I predicted from the start….this bill will be written behind closed doors and the American people will pay for it,” Roberts told Kansas Liberty. “Real reform doesn’t need the secrecy the majority has shrouded it in.”

Baucus’ plan has hundreds of billions of dollars in cuts to Medicare, while extending benefits for Medicaid.

No matter how the Democrats alter the bill, Kansas is already at a disadvantage. The state would have to provide funds to cover the expansion because of the steep increase in residents who would be eligible for the Medicaid benefits.

A Heritage Foundation report published earlier this month demonstrated how certain states would be affected more than other states by the expansion of Medicaid.

The Baucus bill extends Medicaid coverage to adults with incomes below 133 percent of the poverty line. Kansas was identified as a state that would have to absorb the cost of an approximate 51 percent increase in the amount of eligible recipients if the plan became law.

The Heritage report lumped states into four different categories to demonstrate which states would be affected the most. Kansas fell into the fourth category, the group that would experience greatest increase in eligible residents, along with 10 other states.

Nevada was also in the fourth category, and was identified as being the state that would experience the greatest Medicaid expansion, with an increase of more than 82 percent.

Overall, the Congressional Budget Office has predicted that states’ budgets would have to increase in size by at least $37 billion to cover the additional benefits mandated by the federal government’s reform plans.

Kansas Gov. Mark Parkinson, a Democrat, is promoting his party's health-care plan.

“Gov. Parkinson knows that Kansas families and small businesses are being crushed by skyrocketing health-care costs,” Parkinson’s spokesperson, Beth Martino, told Kansas Liberty. “Without reform, health insurance premiums will continue to overburden the budgets of Kansas families — and even more Kansans will go without coverage. The governor, like many Kansans, is hopeful there will be real and substantive reform that will benefit all Americans.”

Previously on Kansas Liberty

Roberts: Baucus plan would raise taxes and cut benefits for seniors

Resources

Bloomberg report
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=ao9dG2a.w8es

Heritage report
http://blog.heritage.org/2009/10/07/does-obamacare-turn-your-state-into-a-medicaid-monster/

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