Senate Republicans: We'll Oppose Medicaid Expansion

CONCORD, NH - Republican members of the state Senate state that they have a super majority in place to oppose to the authorization of Obamacare’s Medicaid Expansion, also known as the New Hampshire Health Protection Program, which they believe will bring an income tax to the Granite State.

While the expansion of President Barack Obama’s signature program was set to sunset this December, legislators are currently working on a bill to extend the program for another two years, “with total costs exploding from $400 million annually in uncompensated costs (reimbursement to hospitals to cover medical services to the uninsured) to over $800 million combined,” according to a number of Senators in the Republican Majority Office.

In a statement, the Senators stated that the “no cost to New Hampshire taxpayers” illusion of 95 percent federal money for two years that is being floated by supporters, is “naive” and support for the bill create a ”Figment-of-Free-Federal-Funds-Forever mentality should induce the New Hampshire Legislature to commit to a program we cannot afford, nor create a scheme where local costs of insurance and healthcare will increase significantly to pay for a portion of it.”

State Sen. Gary Daniels, R-Milford, who also represents Amherst and Merrimack stated that proponents of the proposal falsely believe that hospital and insurers are going to pick up the tab if federal funds are reduced.

“The fact is that hospitals and insurers are businesses and it would be shortsighted for us to believe those costs would not be passed on to consumers in the form of higher premiums or reduced services, just as the federal government did when it raided Medicare funds to pay for the Affordable Care Act,” he stated.

State Sen. Andy Sanborn, R-Bedford, agreed.

“We have to remember that no one in New Hampshire can be denied medical service and our state has been a leader in insuring sick people have access to care when needed, but this program is merely paying hospitals double to do the same job they are doing today,“ he said. “Part of being a good steward of people’s tax dollars is being able to distinguish between what we can afford and what is an excessive use of taxpayers’ money. I am very concerned that this program will be a disincentive to find ways to lower health care costs for people who pay for their insurance and discourages people to find full time work.”

State Sen. Kevin Avard, R-Nashua, said that during the process of discussing the healthcare issue, both side of the aisle needed to be consulted so that efforts would be made to try all alternatives in an effort to protect taxpayers, especially when hundreds of millions of dollars a year were being discussed..

“This is just the latest example of back room deals where those who advocate a specific policy get together with those who will benefit from it and they try to ram something through,” he said. “These Washington tactics are not right for New Hampshire.”

Other state Senators, like Sam Cataldo, R-Rochester, questioned the extension when many other needed programs like Meals on Wheels and programs for the developmentally disabled are being cut. John Reagan, R-Deerfield, added that he feared an extension of the program would do the healthcare what the federal government has done to public education.

“The United States spends more money per student than any other country in the world and is satisfied to produce students ranking worse than 25 other countries,” he said. “Will we now enjoy the burden of the world’s most expensive health care while we watch other countries live longer and healthier lives on many fewer taxpayer dollars?”