State Sen. Stiles hears the voice of the people

Vox populi, the people speak. Local state senator Nancy Stiles, my wife and I, and approximately 300 other New Hampshire citizens helped fill Representatives' Hall in Concord on Aug. 27 for a long-awaited public information session on the proposed expansion of Medicaid. The crowd's verdict wasn't long in coming. An overwhelming majority of those in attendance favored expansion.

Guests were asked to sign an attendance sheet and indicate whether or not they supported Medicaid expansion.  A quick glance at the sheets revealed that everyone on a given page, save one or two, favored expansion. The same view was held by medical professionals.

Ben Leubsdorf of the Concord Monitor wrote (8/27/13), "Medical providers - hospitals and community mental health centers, doctors and nurses - presented a united front yesterday in support of expanding New Hampshire's Medicaid program."

Norma Love of the Associated Press noted (8/28/13), "Hospitals, nurses, doctors and other medical providers urged New Hampshire on Tuesday to expand Medicaid to an estimated 49,000 poor adults under the federal health care overhaul law."

The question had been raised previously whether the state's health care system would be swamped with new patients if Medicaid expansion occurred. Leubsdorf noted, "The medical providers said the state's health care system has the capacity to treat tens of thousands of newly insured patients without compromising care for existing patients. . . In fact, they said, many of those now-uninsured people are already patients, receiving treatment at emergency rooms and generally failing to receive basic preventive care."

And that emergency room care is expensive and paid for by the rest of us. Love comments, "Dr. David Green, of Concord Hospital, said that when people don't have insurance they are more likely to wait until their illness is an emergency and seek costly emergency room care. The urology specialist said that he may see a patient with an infection that could have been treated much sooner and for a fraction of the cost by a primary physician."

Only two out of the scores of individuals who offered spoken testimony opposed Medicaid expansion. State Rep. Jack Flanagan questioned whether New Hampshire taxpayers will have to cover the cost. Apparently, Flanagan hasn't been doing his homework.

According to the Affordable Care Act, $2.5 billion in federal money is available to the state to bring about Medicaid expansion. Over the years, New Hampshire taxpayers have sent more money to Washington than we have gotten back in federal services. This $2.5 billion is money we have already paid in taxes. If we don't use it for Medicaid expansion, it will be given to other states for that purpose. Can we afford to throw it away?

In answer to Flanagan's question, the federal government has pledged to pay 100 percent of the cost of expanding Medicaid for the first three years and at least 90 percent thereafter. States can withdraw from the program at any time without penalty.

Local State Senator Nancy Stiles is part of a nine-member commission which has been assigned the task of studying Medicaid expansion and coming up with a recommendation by Oct. 15. After that date, a very high likelihood exists that a special session of the legislature will be called to act upon the Commission's recommendation.

Judging by the evidence presented to Stiles at the public information session, her decision should be easy - to support Medicaid expansion. However, as usual, partisan politics enter the picture and make her support unclear. The question becomes whether or not Stiles will have the independence of thought and action to set aside partisan party allegiances and act on behalf of the well being of the citizens of New Hampshire. We shall have to wait and see.