Arizona Kills SCHIP

Cross posted at Potluck

Arizona is waiting to see if ObamaCare passes. The state has acted to send a powerful message to the White House that if Obama is determined to bankrupt the nation he can leave Arizona out. Megan McArdle:

On the eve of the possible passage of a health care bill, Arizona has provided a glimpse of our possible future by shutting down its SCHIP program and booting a bunch of people out of Medicaid:

The Arizona budget is a vivid reflection of how the fiscal crisis afflicting state governments is cutting deeply into health care. The state also will roll back Medicaid coverage for childless adults in a move that is expected to eventually drop 310,000 people from the rolls.

The reason this is so troubling, of course, is that the new proposed health care plan gets about half of its coverage expansion through adding people to Medicaid. The state side of this expense doesn’t show up on the books as a government expenditure (neatly enabling the bill to get a lower CBO score), but someone in America has to be taxed to pay for it, and there is a big problem when tax revenues fall short of the required expenditure.

There are two frightening possibilities, for people who support this bill (and the rest of us, as well . . . but we’ve been frightened for a while)

1) States pull out, and coverage drops

2) States don’t pull out, and they go bankrupt.

The third, and to me the most likely scenario, is that the Federal government basically bails out the states, perhaps taking over Medicaid. But that’s its own problem, because taking over the Medicaid obligations is not going to come attached to any revenue stream to pay for it. Where are we going to get the money?

Of course, that’s what I want to know about the whole thing. But this makes the problem much more vivid.

As McArdle points out, the Dems in part got the CBO score they wanted because ObamaCare passes billions of dollars of the cost on to states. The states can’t afford this.

My own state, Florida, is already in deep financial trouble. ObamaCare will push states off a cliff. Additionally, deeply hidden in the legislation is the fact that states will be forced to pay for health care for illegals. States with large populations of illegals will get a double whammy under this legislation.

If this thing passes the states are not helpless. They can say no. So far, thirty-eight states are prepared to do just that.

This is the fight of our lives but we are fighting the good fight. I have faith that we will win. Keep up the calls and emails and be prepared to keep up the pressure long after the vote is taken.