Rep. Carter Distorts Health Care Reform's Impact On States' Budgets

Speaking on the House floor last night, Rep. John Carter (R-TX) praised several states for challenging the constitutionality of health care reform. According to him, states have been forced to take action because the expansion of Medicaid will further cripple their already cash-strapped budgets.

Carter: And then you're telling [the states] that already provide a plan to cover a lot of these people that [they] have to take a massive infusion of new people, that wadnt [sic] part of the deal.  Massive.  I'm talking about doubling and tripling some Medicaid budgets for the states.  And we're not going to help you out with it.  Temporarily we'll help you out with it.  We bailed you out with some of this stimulus money in this last year.  But that's all going away. But you gotta take care of it and not only do you have to take care of it, you have to administer that agency, take care of all these new people we put in there.  We're mandating you to do that.

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Despite spending countless hours haranguing reform on the House floor, it appears as if Carter has yet to read the bill.  Rather than dealing with how the legislation will actually impact states' budgets, he seems content repeating meritless Republican talking points.  As the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has highlighted, the federal government will cover almost the entire cost (96%) of Medicaid expansion.  Better yet, more people on Medicaid will mean that states will actually save money they would have otherwise spent on covering emergency room visits and mental health services for the uninsured.