Missourians should vote no on expanding Medicaid with Amendment 2

As the head of the Missouri House Budget Committee, I appreciate the faith you put in me and other legislators to do the people’s business and protect the wallets of taxpayers. Every day, I work through state financial decisions that impact you and your families directly. I am frequently asked in the legislature, “Where is the money coming from?” when considering how to pay for a new project. It is a job I take seriously, and your financial well-being is always at the top of my mind.

In the legislature, we have consistently said no to the irresponsible push to expand Medicaid. Now, thanks to Amendment 2, it’s your turn. You get the chance to be the budget committee for our state this summer. On the ballot Aug. 4 is Medicaid expansion. This is potentially the largest single expenditure in state history, and you, the voters, will be making a key decision for our state, our future and your own bank accounts.

Medicaid is a program traditionally meant for individuals with disabilities, the elderly and children from poor families. However, former President Barack Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s Congress expanded the program to able-bodied adults, including those without children. States have a choice of whether to expand this welfare program or maintain it for those most in need, who are already covered. States such as New York and California have chosen to expand to able-bodied adults, while Texas, Florida and others have not expanded.

Today, Missouri taxpayers already provide health care to nearly one million residents on Medicaid. We spend nearly 40% of the entire state budget on Medicaid, even without expansion. Some estimates have predicted that expansion through Amendment 2 would cost Missouri another $349 million a year more than we already spend.

As chairman of the budget committee, I have the benefit of having spent many weeks listening to testimony and reading reports about Medicaid and other welfare issues. After all of these sessions and countless hours of discussion, I’m left with a very important question that continues to go unanswered by those peddling the further expansion of this program.

Where is the money coming from?

This is a massive welfare program. We already spend more than $10 billion a year on Medicaid. Expansion would add hundreds of thousands of able-bodied adults to the government rolls. Some projections show as many as 500,000 new adults getting government benefits. All of this comes at a time when we are already being forced to make cuts elsewhere as our economy struggles through the economic downturn. So who is paying for it?

The answer, of course, is you and your neighbors. Taxpayers will take it on the chin again.

Those pushing Amendment 2 have conveniently managed to get Medicaid expansion to a vote with no plan whatsoever to pay for it. So, if Amendment 2 passes, taxpayers are left to pick up the $349 million bill.

We know what has happened in other states when Medicaid expansion caused a budget crisis. California delayed payments to schools and cuts to public higher education as Medicaid costs increase. Other states have cut nursing home rates and put disabled individuals on waiting lists for Medicaid services after shelling out for welfare for able-bodied adults.

The cuts to schools, public safety and nursing homes would happen here too — not because we want that to happen, but because there will be no other choice. In fact, because of COVID-19, the federal government will not even allow ineligible able-bodied adults to be removed from Medicaid once they are on the program, even if they commit fraud.

There is no magic pot of federal money that will protect us from the budget fallout it will cause. In fact, Washington has already driven us to more than $22.5 trillion in debt. If we expand Medicaid, it will come from you, and from your kids’ schools, and from your parents’ nursing homes. And it will come from your pocket when Amendment 2 advocates want a tax increase to pay for it.

I hope that when deciding whether we expand Medicaid, you, the voters, will consider where the money is coming from as you cast your ballot on Aug. 4. Let’s reject this giant leap toward “Medicaid for All” and instead continue to use our state resources for those who are truly in need.

Republican Cody Smith represents District 163 in the Missouri House of Representatives.

This story was originally published July 29, 2020 at 5:00 AM.