Expanding Medicaid is the wrong choice

I have always held respect and admiration for Gov. Jay Nixon. I believe him to be a principled man, an honest man and a governor capable and willing to work across party lines.

Nixon delivered his annual State of the State address this week.

But his rosy forecast and continued spending is cause for concern.

I am especially dismayed that the Governor placed into his budget proposal an expansion of the Medicaid program in Missouri because he knows fully well that the Missouri Legislature will not expand that program.

As the President says -- Period!

Nixon's $27.7 billion budget contains a wish list of sorts for his spending proposals. But as is always the case, this is just the starting point for discussions that will nix some of his plans and perhaps add others.

But Medicaid in Missouri already takes one-third - $9 billion plus - of the revenues paid by taxpayers and to expand that program at this point seems foolhardy.

Medicaid is a health-care program for the poor. And now, under Obamacare, eligibility has been expanded to include those making up to 138 percent of the federal poverty guidelines.

Since the failed rollout of Obamacare, 6.3 million additional Americans have enrolled in Medicaid. Just over two million - and I question that number - have enrolled in Obamacare.

The rub is that the states pay a substantial portion of Medicaid expenses. So the Obama administration decided to entice states to expand their Medicaid by offering a bundle of money for the first three years of the program.

Thus far, exactly half of the states have accepted the federal expansion money. The other half - including Missouri - have resisted the expansion because when the federal dollars go away in three years, the states will be left with an ever-growing and highly expensive budget item.

Over 60 million Americans are enrolled in Medicaid. And even though we strongly support this health care safety net, we can't favor expanding the program in these financial times.

Our state needs money for education and a wealth of other services. Medicaid is certainly on that list. At this rate, that program alone could someday take half of the tax revenue from Missourians.

The numbers simply won't work.

Nixon did exactly what every other governor has done. He offered his grand plan for all Missourians and offered the most optimistic economic picture possible.

But Nixon is smart enough to recognize that his ideas stand little chance for passage.

And though I applaud his optimism, Missouri - like the federal government for goodness sakes - has to learn to curtail spending.

Period!