Commentary

The fiasco that is ObamaCare continues to get worse with each passing day. In the middle of this national tragedy is the state insurance exchange. Very little data has come to light regarding the number of Idahoans signing up for insurance under the $70 million website built by the Otter Administration to facilitate ObamaCare. The last number we saw was something short of 75. Yes, seventy-five.

But under the cover of a MSM black-out in Idaho – something worse may be brewing.

A recent column by Dick Morris suggests that Medicaid rolls could be exploding as the state exchange is merely helping more Idahoans sign-up for taxpayer-funded welfare, rather than private insurance.

Already Medicaid is the largest welfare program in the nation, with some 82 million Americans receiving health insurance coverage through the program. This dwarfs Food Stamps or even Social Security.

Morris reports that 88% of the new enrollments in the state of Washington have actually become new Medicaid recipients. Kentucky has seen 82% of its exchange “customers” become welfare recipients under Medicaid. What are the numbers for Idaho? Who knows.

But it seems likely that the Legislature is going to return to quite a budget shock when they gather this winter. If the numbers in Idaho are anything like those of other states – the State of Idaho will have a substantial increase in Medicaid costs in the next budget year. And let’s be clear: The new enrollees are qualifying under the existing program rules – which means that the federal government will only reimburse Idaho at the old rates of “cost-sharing”, something like 50/50.

As the Insurance/IACI lobbying cabal beats the Legislature into expanding Medicaid next session, we can only wonder if the general public will be fully informed as to the (likely) dramatic increase already taking place through the state insurance exchange system.