Illinois Policy Institute - Blog - House committee passes ObamaCare's Medicaid expansion

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House committee passes ObamaCare's Medicaid expansion

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1/7/2013

Jonathan Ingram
Director of Health Policy and Pension Reform

Earlier today, the House Appropriations-Human Services Committee heard House Bill 6253. This bill would impose ObamaCare's massive expansion of Medicaid eligibility in Illinois. You may remember that Illinois law currently prohibits the ObamaCare expansion. State law provides:

Moratorium on eligibility expansions. Beginning on Jan. 25, 2011 – the effective date of Public Act 96-1501 – there shall be a four-year moratorium on the expansion of Medicaid eligibility.

HB 6253 would change the law in order to expand Medicaid eligibility. The Institute was the only group in committee who opposed the bill.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled last July that ObamaCare's massive expansion of Medicaid is completely optional for states. We've previously highlighted why lawmakers shouldn't voluntarily overload an already broken Medicaid program with even more people.

Unfortunately, expansion supporters spent so much time discussing the bill that the committee refused to give us time to testify against the bill. The bill passed out of committee on a 9-5 party-line vote, with only Democrats supporting the bill.