Walker inflates Medicaid numbers By Sam Pierce November 01, 2014
There has to be a better way than just adding on to a broken-down system. We are not paying for Medicaid for people today; we are borrowing money from the Chinese to pay for it. Walker cannot state with intellectual honesty that since we paid for it, we should accept the Medicaid expansion funds. We are not paying for it -- that is a big part of the problem. Gov. Parnell decided to be measured in his response and identify coverage gaps for Alaskans whose income falls between eligibility for Medicaid and the federal Obamacare Marketplace. The analysis undertaken by the state contradicts the numbers being pushed. Unlike what Walker would like people to believe, it is 11,000 who are in this gap, not 40,000. There is a great diverse, comprehensive health care delivery system in Alaska, that includes wonderful services not found elsewhere, such as tribal health organizations, as well as sliding-scale community clinics, and federally qualified health centers, public health centers, and hospitals. Alaskans without health insurance do access comprehensive care in more than 200 Alaska communities. The actual gap is those individuals between the ages of 18 and 64, with no health insurance, who are not eligible for Medicaid, and are not covered under another health care system who earn less than 100 percent of the federal poverty level, and who are not disabled. We are talking able-bodied adults, not children (as they are covered by Denali Kid Care) About 11,000 Alaskans are in this gap, according to the analysis. Many of those 11,000 have access to subsidized health care services. Gaps are small because of the tribal community health aide programs, community-based public health nurses, and the highest number of community health centers and federally qualified health centers per capita in the country. In fact, there are more than 150 such service sites across the state. In 2010, total public and private spending on health care services in Alaska was $7.5 billion more than $10,000 per resident annually. It is a whole lot more today. And it keeps growing at an alarming rate. How is Walker going to cut the budget when he is promising to expand Medicaid, knowing that in two years it will cost the state an additional $200-300 million a year, and go up from there? It is a conundrum he has only had to talk about, never had to face. Bill Walker should know these things. Whoever is governor should be prepared to fork over a lot more money into Medicaid, regardless of whether it is expanded to include able-bodied adults. The fact is, Walker does know this. Alaskans needing health care deserve truth, not political spinning at the expense of poor Alaskans.
Sam Pierce About: "40-year Alaskan, raised in Southeast." Received October 29, 2014 - Published November 01, 2014 Related Viewpoint:
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