Nice Try, Madam Secretary…
Late yesterday afternoon, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius wrote a letter to the nation’s governors addressing the implications of the Supreme Court ruling on Obamacare. She started out on an optimistic note: “We are committed to providing states with as much flexibility as we can to achieve successful implementation of the many important opportunities provided by this legislation.”
But buried at the end of the letter was language indicating states will NOT have true flexibility to adjust their Medicaid programs. As NPR reports:
Last night [HHS] sent a letter to all the nation’s governors, noting that “the Court’s decision did not affect other provisions of the law.” An administration official confirmed that included the requirement that states maintain current eligibility levels until the year 2014.
Governors have made multiple requests for flexibility from such mandates – the earliest of which came on January 7 of last year. Almost 18 months ago, in February 2011, Secretary Sebelius wrote to them saying she was “continu[ing] to review what authority, if any, I have to waive the maintenance of effort” requirements under the health care law.
While Secretary Sebelius and HHS never provided a clear answer as to whether or not she can waive the Obamacare requirements, the non-partisan Congressional Research Service last year concluded that HHS does have the authority to give states additional flexibility for their Medicaid programs. And last month’s Supreme Court ruling – which prohibited the federal government from engaging in “economic dragooning” of states – has prompted several states to “assert they have more flexibility to manage other aspects of the [Medicaid] program.”
But Secretary Sebelius and HHS adamantly insist otherwise. Last year they wouldn’t give states waivers from Obamacare’s onerous requirements – they wouldn’t even admit they had the authority to do so. Now HHS is insisting that the Supreme Court ruling – which said Obamacare violated the constitution by putting “a gun to the head” of states – does not undo the law’s mandates, thereby preventing states from modifying their Medicaid programs. The Secretary’s statements to the contrary, that’s NOT flexibility. And putting more people in a broken Medicaid program is NOT health “reform.”