{"id":15529,"date":"2025-02-26T15:29:22","date_gmt":"2025-02-26T16:29:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/?p=15529"},"modified":"2025-02-26T16:56:46","modified_gmt":"2025-02-26T16:56:46","slug":"new-report-medicaid-expansion-could-lead-to-lower-quality-at-higher-costs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/?p=15529","title":{"rendered":"New Report: Medicaid Expansion Could Lead to Lower Quality at Higher Costs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This post originally appeared at <a href=\"https:\/\/will-law.org\/new-report-medicaid-expansion-could-lead-to-lower-quality-at-higher-costs\/\">https:\/\/will-law.org\/new-report-medicaid-expansion-could-lead-to-lower-quality-at-higher-costs\/<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"et_pb_section et_pb_section_0 et_section_regular\">\n<div class=\"et_pb_row et_pb_row_0\">\n<div class=\"et_pb_column et_pb_column_3_4 et_pb_column_0  et_pb_css_mix_blend_mode_passthrough\">\n<div class=\"et_pb_module et_pb_text et_pb_text_0  et_pb_text_align_left et_pb_bg_layout_light\">\n<div class=\"et_pb_text_inner\">\n<p>The News: The Wisconsin Institute for Law &amp; Liberty (WILL) released a new report, \u201cWisconsin &amp; Medicaid Expansion: A Prescription for Failure,\u201d illustrating the empty promises and higher costs that would result from Governor Evers\u2019 call to expand Medicaid.\u00a0While this policy has been tried in many states, our report highlights a multitude of negative side effects.<\/p>\n<p>The Quotes: WILL Policy Associate, Miranda Spindt, stated, \u201cExpanding Medicaid is a Trojan horse for higher costs without the promise of improved care. Wisconsin would be better off finding ways to lower health care costs by reducing government intervention, and by allowing innovation to improve the quality of care for all Wisconsinites.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Our Findings: While there are short-term financial incentives to expand Medicaid, the long-term fiscal and systemic costs outweigh these benefits. Policymakers in Wisconsin must consider these findings carefully.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Costs Will Go Up, Quality Will Go Down<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>No Coverage Gaps: Wisconsin is unique among non-expansion states because it implemented a partial expansion; providing Medicaid coverage to childless adults up to 100% of the federal poverty level (FPL) to eliminate any coverage gaps.<\/li>\n<li>Higher Private Insurance Costs: Our analysis finds that Medicaid expansion is positively correlated with higher per capita healthcare expenditure, with expansion states spending an average of $215.59 more annually, representing a 2.1% increase compared to non-expansion states.<\/li>\n<li>Less Access to Care: There is also no guarantee that Medicaid recipients will receive the care they need. 96.1% of doctors accept new private insurance patients while only 74.3% accept new Medicaid patients. Expansion would shift people from private insurance to Medicaid, which could worsen health outcomes.<\/li>\n<li>Less Focus on Most in Need: Expansion states have shifted spending away from children, the elderly, and the disabled in favor of childless adults, spending a third less on these most vulnerable populations compared to non-expansion states.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Potential Budget Impacts in the Trump Era<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>With the federal government focused on reducing the federal debt, renewed attention has been focused on the Medicaid reimbursement rate.<\/li>\n<li>Federal deficit reduction efforts could reduce the federal match rate for Medicaid expansion, shifting more costs to the state. Recent reports indicate the current 90% match could drop to 60%, leaving Wisconsin responsible for an estimated $285 million in new costs.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Improper Payments Would Also Grow<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>As states expanded Medicaid, improper payments grew exponentially. For example, in 2018, improper payments amounted to $35 billion and in 2020 that number grew to $90 billion. That number is likely to grow as more data becomes available.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The Bottom Line: Medicaid expansion, often touted as a solution, is just not right for Wisconsin. Especially for a state like ours that does not have significant gaps in care. We hope our report can serve as a warning to policymakers looking for actual solutions to Wisconsin\u2019s health care problems.<\/p>\n<p>Read more:\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/will-law.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/MedicaidExpansionStudy-web88.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-link-type=\"web\">\u201cWisconsin &amp; Medicaid Expansion: A Prescription for Failure,\u201d<\/a> February 2025\u00a0<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/will-law.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Medicaid-Expansion-Isnt-Free-Money.pdf.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-link-type=\"web\">\u201cMedicaid Expansion Isn\u2019t Free Money: Here\u2019s Why Wisconsin Should Say No,\u201d<\/a> February 2025\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"et_pb_column et_pb_column_1_4 et_pb_column_1  et_pb_css_mix_blend_mode_passthrough et-last-child\">\n<div class=\"et_pb_module et_pb_team_member et_pb_team_member_0 clearfix  et_pb_text_align_left et_pb_bg_layout_light\">\n<div class=\"et_pb_team_member_image et-waypoint et_pb_animation_off\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"616\" height=\"980\" src=\"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Miranda-Spindt.jpg\" alt=\"Miranda Spindt\" class=\"wp-image-21572\" \/><\/div>\n<div class=\"et_pb_team_member_description\">\n<h4 class=\"et_pb_module_header\">Miranda Spindt<\/h4>\n<p class=\"et_pb_member_position\">Policy Associate<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/will-law.org\/new-report-medicaid-expansion-could-lead-to-lower-quality-at-higher-costs\/\">New Report: Medicaid Expansion Could Lead to Lower Quality at Higher Costs<\/a> appeared first on <a href=\"https:\/\/will-law.org\">Wisconsin Institute for Law &amp; Liberty<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This post originally appeared at https:\/\/will-law.org\/new-report-medicaid-expansion-could-lead-to-lower-quality-at-higher-costs\/ The News: The Wisconsin Institute for Law &amp; Liberty&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":65,"featured_media":821,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15529","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-will"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15529","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/65"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15529"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15529\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15531,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15529\/revisions\/15531"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/821"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}