Empower Texans: Straus Seeks Sugarcoat for Medicaid Expansion

Sigh, leave it to Joe Straus to attempt to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory; money quote:

A month after confessing his desire for the Legislature to have a conservation about Medicaid expansion, Speaker Straus now says it’s time to “get our heads out of the sand” in order to find a “Texas solution.” The problem? His idea of a solution is really nothing more than a sugarcoated version of what the Obama Administration is already offering.

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Knowing that Medicaid expansion under the current terms proposed by the Obama Administration is completely off the table, members of the grow-government crowd in the Capitol have been speculating about what type of “compromise” the Legislature might agree to with the Obama Administration.

The most common idea thrown against the wall would mimic the recent Arkansas deal struck with the feds, permitting the billions of federal tax dollars to be used to subsidize the purchase of private insurance for everyone making less than 133% of the federal poverty level.

Private insurance instead of a government bureaucracy? How innovative! How flexible! Or at least so they say…

Not discussed about the Arkansas plan is the requirement that these private insurance plans match the same benefits and cost-sharing requirements as what would otherwise be mandated under the original Medicaid expansion offer.

Couple that with the fact that private insurance premiums are set to skyrocket thanks to the litany of regulations set by ObamaCare, and you come up with a system that costs on average $3,000 more per person under virtually the same conditions originally put forth by the federal government.

 Folks who oppose the Medicaid expansion need to contact their legislators.