Taxpayers pick up roughly $2 billion tab after ‘reckless policy changes’ by Pennsylvania Medicare | State

In it, the Commonwealth Fund argues that the expansion comes at the expense of Medicaid recipients, benefiting those who are healthy and able to work.

“The Wolf and Biden administrations have overpromised and undermanaged Medicaid,” Elizabeth Stell, director of policy analysis at the Commonwealth Fund, said in a press release. really needy.”

During the pandemic, the federal and state governments expanded many welfare programs in an emergency. In the case of Medicaid, regulatory changes have become permanent. Medicaid also expanded significantly in the years before the pandemic.

“From 2015 to 2017, Pennsylvania added 631,797 adults to Medicaid,” the report noted, estimating the annual cost of providing Medicaid to these new beneficiaries at $5 billion annually.

Then, in 2020, Pennsylvania suspended eligibility screening requirements, resulting in an additional 600,000 new recipients between March 2020 and September 2022, the report noted. Many of them, apparently, should not receive benefits.

“The Pennsylvania Department of Human Services estimates that more than 500,000 current Medicaid recipients are ineligible for the program,” the report said.

Instead of considering non-eligible Medicaid beneficiaries after the pandemic, the federal government is taking steps to make it easier for people to stay on Medicaid.

“In August, the Biden administration proposed new Medicaid rules, effectively eliminating many basic eligibility checks,” the report said. “The administration estimates that the proposed rule would increase Medicaid enrollment by nearly three million people a year and increase taxpayer costs by another $100 billion between 2023 and 2027, with states picking up nearly $40 billion. With current Medicaid allocations, this is equivalent to an additional $2 billion in government spending.”

The Commonwealth Fund called the changes “an attempt to limit state flexibility by preventing more frequent eligibility testing” in an effort to create “a broad welfare system for all with full federal control.”

The growth of Medicaid in Pennsylvania is not unexpected. Like Central Square reported earlier, The Commonwealth’s population is aging, and experts expect the working-age population to decline in the long term if current trends continue. As the able-bodied and healthy population leaves the workforce and receives Medicaid benefits, that means fewer people are working to provide the income needed to support Medicaid.

And Pennsylvania doesn’t have enough budget room to cover Medicaid costs without compromising other spending or raising taxes.

“Pennsylvania’s Medicaid enrollment continued to grow even as the unemployment rate fell to a record low due to federal restrictions on removing non-eligibles,” the report noted. “One-third of Pennsylvania’s state budget goes to Medicaid,” and total Medicaid spending reached $39 billion in 2022-2023, or 36% of all spending.

Nor is Medicaid alone in its development. Other welfare programs have had similar problems.

Expanding SNAP benefits during the pandemic, for example, has eroded incentives to work and increased federal spending, as The Center Square reported earlier.