“Like Food Stamps for the Middle Class:” Medicare Actuary Says Obamacare Provision “Just Doesn’t Make Sense”
The Associated Press today has a story on how a provision in Obamacare means “several million middle-class people [will] get nearly free health insurance meant for the poor, a twist government number crunchers say they discovered only after the complex bill was signed.” As we previously reported, Medicare actuary Rick Foster testified in January to the House Budget Committee that, because Social Security benefits are not included in the new definition of income, millions of early retirees receiving Social Security pensions will qualify for Medicaid coverage. More from today’s AP story:
A married couple could have an annual income of about $64,000 and still get Medicaid, said officials who make long-range cost estimates for the Health and Human Services Department….
“I don’t generally comment on the pros or cons of policy, but that just doesn’t make sense,” Foster said during a question-and-answer session at a recent professional society meeting. It’s almost like allowing middle-class people to qualify for food stamps, he suggested.
“This is a situation that got no attention at all,” added Foster. “And even now, as I raise the issue with various policymakers, people are not rushing to say … we need to do something about this.”
The actuary’s food stamp analogy is particularly apt, given that 1 in 7 Americans now receives food stamps thanks to this Administration’s failed economic policies. Of course, because early retirees will be covered through Medicaid, this “free” health insurance will have a major impact on states; at a time when states face budget deficits totaling a collective $175 billion, the health care law is imposing Medicaid unfunded mandates of at least $118 billion.
Speaker Pelosi famously said we had to pass the bill to find out what’s in it. The fact that the Medicare actuary didn’t know what was in the bill before its enactment – including provisions that make no sense to him – speaks volumes to Democrats’ unpopular 2,700 page health care law.