March 28, 2012., 8 AM

Supreme Court  - Day 3 –  Constitutionality of Medicaid  Mandate

You’re entitled to Medicaid regardless of your income.  Don’t worry about your health care.

Max Baucus (born 1941), Democratic senator who led effort to create the health law

March 28,2012 , 8 AM – Today the Supreme Court takes on the issue of Medicaid expansion in the States.  

The attorney generals of  27 States have challenged the federal  government to prove the constitutionality of expanding Medicaid to 32 million more recipients in 2014.

·        Florida, South Carolina, Nebraska

. Texas,  Utah, Louisiana

. Alabama, Colorado, Michigan

·        Pennsylvania, Washington, Idaho

·        South Dakota, outh Dakota, Indiana

·        Mississippi, Nevada, Arizona

·        Georgia, Alaska, Ohio

·        Wisconsin, Maine, Iowa

·        Wyoming, Kansas, Virginia

These  27 States assert  Obamacare exceeds the limit of the federal government to  regulate interstate commerce, smf thereby violates the 10^th Amendment and the Commerce Clause/

In the words of Maine Attorney General, William Scheiber,

“The federal government reform mandates that all citizens purchase insurance pay    a  costly penalty.  This would be an unprecedented  expansion of federal power, o the 10^th Amendment and the Commerce Clause of the Constitution.”

In his latest budget proposal,   Paul Ryan(R) of Wisconsin says  that all states  should  be issued a block grant  to cover Medicaid patients and  to pay 100% of amounts that exceed the limits of the grant.    Ryan  claims his proposal would save the federal government $810 billion over 10 years.  Unfortunately under current  conditions,  critics say his proposal would eviscerate  State budgets.

On average, the  federal government now pays two-thirds of Medicaid costs while  state government picks up the remaining third.  Yet.  in most states, Medicaid is the single largest expense,  and comes at the cost of cutting funds for education,  highway repair, and other social programs.  By 2012, it is estimated 110 million Americans, nearly one-third of the population will be on Medicaid..  This may be a reasonable projection since 60 million are now on Medicaid, and another 32 million are scheduled to be added in 2014 under the health care law.

Attorney Generals of the 27 states claim the Accountable Care  Act  will not check growth of costs inherent in their present Medicaid population and  will not cover costs of processing 32 million more recipients.

Many progressives believe the sovereignty of the federal government takes precedence over the sovereignty of individual states and therefore the health law will prevail.  The counter argument  may be that the individual  mandate and  the Medicaid mandate  are so intertwined and inseparable that they  must fall or faii  together.

Tweet:  Today, day 3, of the Supreme Court hearings on the health law, the Court will consider the claim that the  Medicaid Mandate  violates the Constitution.