Reconciliation Bill Increases ObamaCare Medicaid Costs for Twenty Eight States

Edmund Haislmaier / March 25, 2010

The U.S. Senate is currently debating H.R. 4872, which amends the Obamacare bill passed by the House Sunday evening and signed into law by the President on Tuesday. This second piece of legislation is advertised as necessary to “fix” problems with the basic Obamacare legislation — such as by deleting the notorious “Cornhusker Kickback” and by altering the timing and scope of the new penalty tax on “high-cost” health insurance plans.

However, other parts of H.R. 4872 actually make the original bill worse — for example, the provision that would increase the separate, new premium tax on commercial health insurance coverage and the one that expands the new tax on medical devices.

Yet another provision would change the federal Medicaid funding formula such that Obamacare will cost taxpayers in 28 states and the District of Columbia even more money. That means that 56 senators will have yet another opportunity to once more vote against the interests of their constituents back home by approving H.R. 4872. (more…)