House Bill 3210 Trojan Horse for Obamacare’s Medicaid Expansion

Lawmakers warned that recent tax increase bill will usher in Obamacare’s Medicaid Expansion

Jonathan Small, president of the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs, is urging lawmakers to look very carefully at a House bill that was passed late Monday by House members of the Joint Committee on Appropriations and Budget.

“Policymakers who oppose any form of Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion will be very concerned with a bill that passed the JCAB committee late Monday,” Small said. “House Bill 3210 is a Trojan horse for Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion. HB 3210 is being touted as just a tax increase measure, but a read of the fine print reveals much more is included. On page 4, line 4 of the bill, is legislative language that creates a brand new program that allows the Medicaid agency to divert revenues that are supposed to stabilize nursing home and provider rates to a new program for ‘premium assistance.’”

Dr. Tom Coburn, Mr. Larry Parman, the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs, OCPA Impact, Americans for Prosperity Oklahoma, Americans for Tax Reform, the American Legislative Exchange Council, the Heartland Institute, Gov. Mary Fallin in her 2014 State of the State address, and a growing number of state policymakers have all expressed concern about the unsustainable growth in government spending associated with any attempts to implement Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion or access Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion dollars.

“Policymakers should know that ‘premium assistance’ is the code word used by the state Medicaid agency and the Obama administration for using Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion dollars to gut the Insure Oklahoma program of its enrollment caps, work requirements and accountable cost sharing, and fundamentally change the program to conform with Obamacare’s failed mandates and regulations,” Small said.

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