BIPPS weighs in on Medicaid expansion for WHAS

On the eve of Gov. Steve Beshear's announcement about his intention to expand Medicaid in Kentucky, Bluegrass Institute president Jim Waters had the opportunity to chime in on the debate. In a story by Joe Arnold of WHAS:

Under the law, the federal government would pick up the full tab of the increase for three years, but after that, Kentucky would have to fund ten percent of the added cost.

"We're going to make a broken program bigger, not better," argued Jim Waters, President of the Bluegrass Institute, a free-market think tank.

Expanding medicaid would inflict a one size fits all approach to Kentucky's unique health care needs, Waters continued, ultimately reducing access for the people for whom Medicaid was created.

"And that is the truly poor and the truly disabled. They need the care. We need to find other ways to provide the other people better care as well," Waters contended.

What does this mean for Kentucky? Well, you can read about that here.