On January 4, 2023, Paragon’s Brian Blase, PhD, and Public Advisor Doug Badger were quoted in Health Care News by the Heartland Institute. From the article titled “Montana Moves to Stop Medicaid for Ineligible Enrollees”:
Medicaid’s growing problems are rooted in the program’s structure, which has failed to adapt to the demands placed on it, Blase says.
“States lack incentive to ensure value from Medicaid,” wrote Blase. “The federal government typically pays about 65 percent of Medicaid’s costs with no cap on federal expenditures. Because of COVID-related Medicaid policies, the federal government now reimburses about 70 percent of program expenditures. Meanwhile, CMS has never prioritized program integrity.”
In June 2022, says Blase, 82.3 million people were enrolled in Medicaid, up from 55.0 million in 2013 prior to the ACA expansion of the program, and enrollment has continued to grow. About half of that growth was due to the expansion of Medicaid to able-bodied, working-age adults, with the other half the result of increased federal spending during COVID, according to Blase.
Skyrocketing costs have gone hand in hand with the surge in enrollees who are not eligible for the program, according to Blase.
“The Urban Institute estimated that 15.8 million ineligible people were on Medicaid as of September 30, 2022—a number that will increase as long as the public health emergency is extended,” wrote Blase.
The full article can be found in Health Care News by the Heartland Institute.
