Americans for Prosperity- Nixon's lying about Medicaid

(From Americans for Prosperity Missouri)

Americans for Prosperity - Missouri today called out Governor Nixon for inaccurate claims about the costs of expanding the state's Medicaid program. Governor Nixon says that if Missouri disregards his last-minute bid expand Medicaid, Missourian's tax dollars will be lost to other state that chose to expand Medicaid, as defined by President Obama in the new health care law. Both Politifact and the non-partisan think tank Galen Institute have refuted this claim.

"Once again, Governor Nixon has been proven wrong, choosing not to implement a costly Medicaid expansion will not directly send our tax dollars to support Medicaid expansion in other states," explained Patrick Werner, Missouri State Director of Americans for Prosperity. "We should do the responsible thing for Missourians and not worry about the misguided and costly decisions of other states. Medicaid expansion is not only a bad deal for taxpayers, but will make it more difficult for our poorest and most vulnerable citizens to access health care."  

Politifact recently fact-checked and found this this very claim "mostly false" when made by Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe, in support of expanding his state's Medicaid program: "There’s no finite money for expansion," said Edwin Park, vice president of health policy at the liberal Washington-based Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. “there’s no direct connection between Virginia’s decision on expansion and what happens to Medicaid in other states….states participating in the program will receive the same federal subsidy for each new enrollee regardless of whether Virginia participates”

Similarly, the nonprofit health and tax policy think tank Galen Institute states: “not expanding Medicaid doesn’t mean other states get the money.  The expansion is an entitlement; if one state doesn’t expand, the money stays in the federal coffers.”

"Missourians should not be deceived, Medicaid dollars are not earmarked in the U.S. Treasury," Werner continued “The real problem is that every additional dollar the federal government spends is exacerbating our $17 trillion national debt, saddling future generations with a higher tax burden."

This isn't the first time AFP-MO has caught Governor Nixon stretching the truth to support his agenda. Last week, AFP asked Nixon to prove it when he said Missouri was a “relatively low tax state being ranked 6^th lowest in the nation.” That claim runs contrary to the non-partisan Tax Foundation's recent study which shows that Missouri has the 14th highest combined state and local taxes in the nation. If the Nixon-supported proposal to increase the Sales Tax by one percent passes, it will vault Missouri all the way to the 6th highest combined rate in the nation.

Werner concluded: "Governor Nixon has barnstormed the state the past two years in opposition to tax relief while supporting big government programs like Medicaid expansion which will cost Missourians hundreds of millions. Is it too much to ask that he at least stick to the facts when he advocates for these terrible policies?"