Two years ago, Colorado expanded its Medicaid program – extending coverage to so-called “childless adults.” When the state adopted the expansion, estimates concluded 49,200 people would become newly eligible for the program at a cost of $292 per person per month ($197.4 million per year total). But now, according to the Denver Post, “the number of people eligible for coverage is nearly three times as high as first projected and the cost of insuring them is almost nine times original estimates.” Reality has set in as the Colorado Health Institute has concluded 143,000 people are eligible at a cost of $900 per person per month, costing nearly $1.75 billion per year ($900 per month is far more expensive than private insurance premiums for an individual).
In response to a program expansion that quickly blew a hole in the state budget, the state has decided to cap enrollment on a first-come, first-save basis to the first 10,000 enrollees. The Denver Post reports that “Advocates for the uninsured said the department’s decision to scale back coverage was the only realistic option until 2014.” What changes in 2014? Neither the number of eligible individuals nor the cost per enrollee will be reduced. In fact, this expansion will be just as unaffordable for taxpayers in 2014 as it is today. Instead, what is changing is that the federal government, unlike Colorado which must balance its budget, will borrow trillions of dollars to finance an unaffordable entitlement program.
What is happening in Colorado will be happening in every state once the ObamaCare expansion of Medicaid kicks in. It will burden taxpayers and lead to further crises in state and federal budgets. The federal government should do what Colorado has done when faced with an affordable entitlement program – limit the unaffordable program. In the Feds case that means repeal ObamaCare.
