A Texas based physician sent this to us today:
Insurers Bid for State Medicaid Plans – This is interesting – We just got a contract sent to us from United last week about this, wanting us to become providers in their ‘network’. They’re probably preparing a bid to get some or all of this business in Texas.
Where are all the providers going to come from to care for all these people if they’re only willing to pay Medicaid rates? While I don’t know that to be the case, maybe there’s some flexibility in what they’re willing to pay.
Wait until 2014 when all this takes effect. If they can’t find providers for the Medicaid rates, and the state ends up having to pay higher rates to entice enough providers to see all these people, it will bust the state budgets. Texas is short an estimated $20 B in the upcoming biennium. It will be even shorter in 2013-2014. There will be no choice except to raise taxes. Texas will either have to create a personal income tax, raise the sales tax, or increase the business margins tax. And every other state will be singing the same tune. How’d you like to be living in California?
Get ready. The tsunami is coming. Congress has done a masterful job of shoving the real costs of ObamaCare down to the states so the state legislatures can end up being the real bad guys by raising everyone’s taxes to cover the federal mandate.
What a crock!!
Editor’s Note: See http://blog.riskmanagers.us/?p=4815