ACA Damages States in (At Least) Three Ways

An ad hoc coalition of a dozen public-policy think tanks have signed a statement opposing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) and appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court to strike the law down.

Andy Matthews, president of the Nevada Policy Research Group, presented the statement to the Las Vegas Review Journal for publication last week. Matthews' statement, signed by the directors of 11 other organizations, specifically addresses the impact of the ACA on the states:

The act imposes new burdens on states in three dangerous and damaging ways. First, it costs our businesses with new taxes. Second, it costs our residents with higher premiums. Third, it costs our states, threatening to reduce access to care for Medicaid recipients on the losing end of strained budgets. Tallying these cumulative economic burdens explains and justifies today's stubborn public opposition. Far from controlling costs, the law controls lives--even to the point of worsening them.

On the Health Care Compact blog, we have documented several ways the ACA is hurting state budgets. Under the ACA, the federal government is mandating that states accept a vast expansion of Medicaid rolls without guaranteeing the funds to handle that expansion.

The statement on the costs to states of the health care law was signed by the following organizations representing their home states:

Wisconsin
Brett Healy, The John K. MacIver Institute for Public Policy

Florida
Dr. Robert McClure, James Madison Institute

Florida
Tarren Bragdon, Foundation for Government Accountability

Michigan
Joseph Lehman, The Mackinac Center for Public Policy

Mississippi
Forest Thigpen, Mississippi Center for Public Policy

Texas
Brooke Rollins, Texas Public Policy Foundation

Washington
Dann Mead Smith, Washington Policy Center

Washington
Jonathan Bechtle, Freedom Foundation

Colorado
Jon Caldara, Independence Institute

South Carolina
Ashley Landess, South Carolina Policy Center

Nevada
Andy Matthews, Nevada Policy Research Institute

Alabama
Gary Palmer, Alabama Policy Institute

Source: "ObamaCare damages the states three ways," Las Vegas Review-Journal, March 29, 2012.
Image courtesy of the Nevada Policy Research Institute.

Steve O'Keefe is a freelance writer, author and book editor.