Dear Editor:
This letter is in response to the "Medicaid expansion needed" letter to the editor appearing in the Nov. 16 edition of the News Tribune, where Mike Sutherland was proposing that Missouri could expand its Medicaid coverage and net savings of at least $100 million per year in state general revenue dollars when the expansion is fully implemented.
The letter writer did not go into enough specifics to be able to fact-check as to how these savings would be achieved while providing access to health care coverage for about 300,000 Missourians (expansion of coverage does not necessarily mean an expansion of care). What was implied was this could be done by shifting existing revenue dollars around with no tax increases necessary. Really?
The federal government covers 100 percent of the costs of the expanded coverage for three years (2014-2016), with declining reimbursements to 90 percent in 2020 and beyond. This would be in addition to the costs for the current Medicaid enrollees. You need to be upfront and tell us how much total Medicaid costs will be (for current + expanded participants) in actual dollars based on the most recent data.
Source http://www.cbpp.org/research/how-health-reforms-medicaid-expansion-will-impact-state-budgets
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