WIS Perspective: Medicaid expansion

So far, the political debate about Medicaid expansion has been about the role of federal and state governments in providing financial support for healthcare services and the impact that may have on our state budget.

Regardless of what we do with Medicaid expansion, from 2014-2020, federal reimbursements to hospitals in SC will be cut by over $2.6 billion dollars. For our three regional hospitals (Palmetto, Lexington and Providence), these cuts will run in the hundreds of millions of dollars.  In contrast, agreeing to Medicaid expansion will mean that our state will receive federal funding of over $11.6 billion from 2014 to 2020, providing additional dollars which will more than offset other cuts that are coming.

We realize that this is a challenging political issue for our state, but we believe that an investment in Medicaid will improve access to healthcare for low-income workers, make businesses more competitive by reducing the cost-shifting that hospitals and healthcare systems must employ, generate a 9-to-1 financial match for our state and generate significant job growth and economic investment.

The focus should be on people…much needed health services, job retention and job creation, and we strongly urge Governor Haley and our legislative delegation to support Medicaid expansion in South Carolina

That's my perspective.