Bloomberg News reported on a new study the found that states that do not expand Medicaid could be passing on the costs to employers:
Governors who refuse to expand their Medicaid programs for the poor may cost employers in their states as much as $1.3 billion in federal fines, a study found.
A clause in the 2010 health-care overhaul penalizes some employers when their workers aren’t able to obtain affordable medical coverage through the company. Employers can avoid those fees if their workers qualify for Medicaid as part of an expansion that as many as 22 states have rejected. The source for the information is a report issued by Jackson Hewitt Tax Service Inc.
Without Medicaid, a “shared responsibility” payment of as much as $3,000 may be triggered for each employee who can’t get insurance through their company. In Texas, the largest state to refuse to increase Medicaid, employers may be liable for as much as $448 million in fines, the study found. In Florida, where the legislature has refused an expansion supported by Governor Rick Scott, employers may pay as much as $219 million.
It is worth noting that this $3,000 “shared responsibility” payment closely resembles the controversial “individual mandate” in the Affordable Care Act.
Rick Perry has now maneuvered himself into a position where CEOs from every major employer in the state, and their lobbyists, will be on his doorstep. The state’s hospitals, nursing homes, and health care providers are next in line. This is just another case of how Perry’s ideological blinders have damaged this state for the past thirteen years. All over a law that offers substantial benefits to the state and its uninsured population. Anyone know of a good recipe for crow?
